Welcome to Chen's Island
by frostbite64
Summary: With 16 opponents, 4 of them being ninja, it won't be easy for Kylie to win the Tournament of Elements and save her brother. With one ally, she must beat the odds to reunite with her brother and return to her home. But to do that, she'd crush the ninjas' hopes of ever reuniting with their teammate. Only one can remain, so who will it be? I don't own Ninjago
1. The Letter

What Really Happened on Chen's Island

(Kylie's Point of View)

"Jay, Cole?" I looked up to see a spiky haired man about 18 sit down with three other boys. One of them had a ninja gi on, and the other three were dressed in more casual clothing. I kept an eye on them while I went back to washing dishes. I had been working at Chen's Noodle house for about six months now. It was a nice job with good pay, but I didn't like the fact that the food we had was shipped to us. I preferred cooking myself.

A few minutes later, three men walked into the restaurant. They stole the money in the cash registers and began giving Steve, my manager a whole bunch of trouble. I reached for one of the dinner plates I had just dried, a plate could be used as a weapon in countless ways. But before I could even get near them, that group of boys went over and two of them, I think their names were Cole and Kai, started messing with them. I rolled my eyes at both how poorly the thugs fought, and how long it took for Kai and Cole to beat them. The thugs picked themselves off of the ground and ran out. The four guys, I think they were the ninja followed them. I sighed and put the plate down and began cleaning up a table.

"Uh... Kylie, can you come here for a second?" asked Steve. I nodded and followed him into a room marked employees only. Steve sighed and said, "Kylie, the restaurant is quickly losing money, so we have to get rid of some of our employees, and sadly one of them is you." The news hit me like a blow to the chest. I couldn't believe it. Now I had no job, and no family to ask for help from. My brother and I had been orphans for about six months after the death of our father. My brother had died six weeks ago, but it feels like he was here just yesterday. He had been wounded seriously, and his heart just kept going faster and faster, and then it stopped.

I finished cleaning up the tables, just as the last man was leaving. He had a gray T-shirt and gray pants on. His hair was extremely light blonde on the sides and had a black stripe down the center. When I was cleaning up the table I noticed that he left a twenty dollar tip for me. That confused me because typically, people only gave five dollar tips. I didn't think about it much while I closed up the restaurant.

* * *

On my walk home, I crossed through an alleyway. It was a few streets away from my house, and it took a few minutes off of the time it took me to get home. Unfortunately, that also meant I'd have do deal with anyone who lurked in dark places. Tonight, I did have to deal with some of them. It's not like they were the greatest fighters, so the fact that they had me outnumbered two to one wasn't a problem. I instantly recognized them as two of the thugs that had invaded Chen's Noodle House. I was honestly kind of bored by their fighting skills. They were worse the way they fought against the ninja. It took less energy to beat them then it took to work the cash register. I smiled as the second fell unconscious. Then a voice rang out from behind me.

"Look out behind you!" I spun around. There was a third thug, the one with the silver eye. I back flipped over him and he lunged at me, but I dodged it. Both of us advanced, but suddenly strange green and blue waves hit him in the forehead. He looked at me and scratched his head. Then he shrugged and left the alley, walking away. I looked back at the source of the waves. It was the man who left the large tip back at the noodle house. He was most likely the same one who alerted me to the thug's presence. It took me a while to realize I was staring at him. It turned out that the reason I was staring at him was his eyes. They were a strange orange color, which was not something you see every day. But the size of his eyes were quite strange too. They were much bigger than average. In fact, compared to other people, he looked like he belonged in anime.

"Wha- like... how did you do that?" I asked.

He smiled, "That's the power of my suggestion waves. I can send a thought or command into a person's mind and they'll follow it. Oh! I should probably introduce myself. I'm Neuro, master of the mind."

It occurred to me that I should reply to him, "I'm Kylie, but call me KJ, I'm the master of music." I said using my best element. My other element was weak, and I rarely used it, "Thanks for the warning. I wouldn't have beat him without your help." He shook his head.

"Yeah you would've. You were amazing at fighting them." I just shrugged. When you make it your life's goal to defend the innocent, and you've literally known how to fight since you first saw the word, it's not that difficult.

I decided to change the topic, "I haven't really seen you before. Are you from out of town?"

He nodded, "I'm visiting my mom here for a while. She's nice, but can't cook, so I decided to find somewhere else to eat tonight."

"Cool," I said. "I do live here. Where are you from?"

"Jamanakiai Village."

"Cool. That place must be a lot safer than Ninjago City."

"Yeah. There was everything from serpentine to nindriods. I heard about that. Didn't the most recent attack end in the death of the master of ice?"

"That's right." I was traumatized by that. I wasn't able to get down to the sewers in time, so I watched the battle from a grocery store. Over the last month and a half, I kept waking up from nightmares where I was the one dying. I was at the funeral, but I hung back near a tree the whole time, trying not to cry. I knew Zane and I loved him, but no, I am not a fangirl. Neuro interrupted my thoughts.

"Anyway, I should probably get going," Neuro said. He walked through the alleyway, which was the same way I was headed.

"Great!" I thought, "Maybe I can talk to him a little longer." I caught up to him as we walked toward our places.

It turned out that the two of us were in the same apartment building, and his mom's room was right next to mine. I knew his mom. Mrs. Salton was a very nice person who usually kept to herself, but I'd see her sometimes when I got home from work. We'd usually talk for a couple minutes. She also visited me and helped me get over my loss when my brother died, which I greatly appreciated.

I didn't mind being on the top floor, the only downside was that I had to take the stairs because the building didn't have an elevator. Neuro and I began the fifteen story climb to our apartments. On the second floor he broke the silence that filled the stairwell. "So, when the city was attacked by serpentine or the other groups of villains, were you ever fighting them?"

"Sort of. Only when the ninja were gone. You've heard of the ninja, right?"

"Yeah. They've been on the news all the time. I'm pretty sure that the ninja are the masters of fire, earth, lightning, and ice, but the ice master died. And the green ninja as well, who is the grandson of the first spinjitzu master. If I'm not mistaken, the green ninja's father, uncle, and mother are also on the team, as well as the fire master's sister."

"Wow. They really must be on the news a lot." I was a bit annoyed that they were always on the news and I wasn't. I'm not the kind of person that needs attention, but it would be nice to have credit for the things I did. I was the one that found the ultra-dragon in the desert, and led it to Ninjago city to help the ninja fight the Great Devourer, and I helped 13 people escape their homes and reach the bounty when the stone samurai attacked, but it was always the ninja who got the credit.

On the ninth floor my sixth sense kicked in and alerted me of danger. My sense wasn't very clear, but I made out something sharp, and my head. I put that together as something sharp about to hit my head. Yes, I did have a sixth sense, and when people found out, they'd say something like, "Wow! Just like the white ninja!" That was kind of annoying, but I got used to it.

"Duck!" I yelled as a knife sailed over us and got stuck in the wall. Attached to it was a letter that said _Kylie and Neuro_ written in neat handwriting on it. Slowly, Neuro stood and opened the letter cautiously. I looked over his shoulder and read:

 _Kylie,_

 _Your brother is alive, but unless both of you come and compete in Master Chen's Tournament of_

 _Elements, you'll never see him again._

 _Neuro, you're not a bad, person, are you?_

 _Obviously you wouldn't keep a person from seeing her brother again._

 _right?_

 _So, if you accept meet at the pier at midnight. You'll be staying for several days so bring a bag for clothes._

 _Let me warn you. Everyone at the tournament will have something they're fighting for._

 _Hopefully, we'll see you there. From,_

 _Chen's faithful servant, but my name doesn't matter._

Neuro and I spoke at the same time. I said, "You're going, right?" as he said "You're not going right?"

"Are you crazy? He's my brother!"

"But it's probably a trap!"

"I don't care. I'm going. I'll bet the ninja will be there as well, and I really want to beat them at something! And it might not be a trap anyway! So, you better go, because he's my brother and-!"

"Fine, I'll go."

"And it's not fair if you don't go because- oh, did you say you'd go?" He nodded and I blushed, "Sorry, sorry!"

"Don't worry about it. He's your brother, so I guess it's reasonable that you are determined to help him."

"Thanks. Do you have a brother?"

"No, but I have an older sister named Claire. She's really nice, but she constantly reminds me that she's older and that she's better than me."

"Huh... I wonder if my brother thinks I do that." We finally reached floor 15 and our rooms.

"So," said Neuro, "Should we meet here at 11:00 tonight?"

"Yeah, sounds good." And then we parted ways. I was smiling all evening.

* * *

I decided to take a short nap; it was only 7:45 after all. I looked outside and gazed at the stars. I found the star that was somehow special between me and my brother. It was dimmer than most others, but it still shone and stood out to me.

"Goodnight brother. I will see you soon."

* * *

 **(A/N) So that's chapter 1. I hope you liked it. Sorry for you people that dislike OC's, but this idea I had was really nagging at me and I just had to get it out. I'm uncertain when the next chapter will be up, but I'll try to hurry. I love getting reviews, so please leave one.**

 **Until next time,**

 **-Frostbite**


	2. The Boat

Chapter 2

(Kylie's POV)

 _"Father," I asked, "Does he know about his power?" "No," my father said, "I don't know if it's wise to tell him just yet."_

 _"Why not?"_

 _"Because he's not old enough to understand; I didn't tell you until you were eleven."_

 _"Yeah, I know. But shouldn't he know that his great- uncle was one of the First Spinjutzu Master's greatest friends?" I wasn't sure why my father wouldn't tell my brother had an elemental power. "Father, I had a strange dream last night. I can't remember the details, all I remember is the message the dream told me. I don't think he has the power of the music. Why do I have two elemental powers when he only has one?"_

 _"I'm not sure Kylie; I guess that's just what the Fist Spinjutzu Master had planned for him."_

* * *

I sat up quickly, like I always did when I woke up from a strange dream. It was a dream from my past. I looked around, trying to remember why it was still dark out. Then my eyes focused on the clock in my room, which read 10:54. Then I remembered where I was supposed to be in a little over an hour.

"Oh shoot!" I yelled (I never cussed, or the word would have been much different) as I literally fell out of my bed. I stuffed some clothes and a few books in my bag. I had a little room left in it, so I put a picture of my brother and I in it. It was one of my favorites; it was small enough to fit in one of my pockets, so I always kept it with me. We had been out in the snow for about an hour, so our cheeks were red, and his ears were as red as tomatoes.

I shut the door to my apartment as the clock read 11:07. Neuro was sitting, his back against the wall, reading a book. He looked up at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry I'm late. I fell asleep!' I said quickly. He shrugged and said it was okay.

"It's not like I had anything better to do," he said, putting his book in his bag and standing up.

"You could've been sleeping."

"I thought you were dragging me off to the pier."

"Oh yeah; I guess you really didn't have anything better to do." He smiled and the two of us walked out of the building and to the pier.

We were some of the first there. The only other people there were a man who was actually invisible, a pale man with black hair, and a girl with a yellow-orange cloak. Eventually there were several others. The last to join came very loudly. They were the ninja. The annoying, cocky, arrogant ninja. At first the ninja didn't bother me. But as time went on, they really got on my nerves.

* * *

Promptly at midnight, a loud horn blew. I turned to the water and saw a huge ship coming in. Two men dressed similar to the thugs from earlier lowered a plank onto the pier. All seventeen of us, I counted, lined up and we stepped onto the ship. I noticed a man, dressed as a rich person would, standing at the edge of the pier. As each of us went on, he gave a greeting to us.

"Welcome miss. The tournament will be starting soon, and I'm certain you'll be eager for action." I wasn't quite eager, but I did want to see my brother. I really wanted to push one of the ninja off the plank, but they were all behind me. When the last one, Lloyd was about to get on, and old man, probably his dad, came walking up. He tried to convince Lloyd not to go, but failed. Eventually, they both got on the ship, but the dad, Garmadon, wasn't going to compete.

The man I saw earlier, Clouse had us all follow him. We went into a room that had two rows of beds, a total of 18. I wasn't sure why the extra bed was in here, but I didn't think about it much.

"We won't be reaching our destination for a few days, so make yourselves at home, each of you," said Clouse. For most people, it was a mad dash to get a good bed, but I didn't care, they were all the same. Neuro and I eventually ended up across from each other. While everyone else went to go take a look at the boat, Neuro and I were both reading. Eventually, I got bored, and decided to have a conversation with him.

"So," I started, "I take it you like reading. (I was horrible when it came to talking with other people. That was probably the worst way to start a conversation.)

"Yeah, that's why I had a book in my hands." I called myself an idiot and he snorted.

"You just miss the obvious points." he said, "But you're not an idiot. Save that term for the ninja." I laughed.

"You mean, you dislike them too?"

"Yeah; they're annoying, cocky and arrogant. Why wouldn't I?"

"That's exactly what I've been thinking!" I smiled to myself. I made a mental note to see if I could get his number when this is all over. In a way, it was a good thing I didn't have to write my brother letters anymore (now I could just tell him) because I had no idea how to explain how this entire tournament would play out. No matter what, a letter couldn't describe it.

* * *

 **(A/N) There's chapter two. The action should pick up next chapter. Please review. I want to know what you guys think. I'll try to hurry with the next chapter.**

 **Until next time**

 **-Frostbite**


	3. The Rules

Chapter three

(No one's point of view)

To most people, the nest few days passed quickly. For Kylie however, they took years. She was stuck right next to Kai, and he was loud, constantly bragging about his achievements, and how easy the tournament would be. For Kylie, the worst part was at night. He snored really loudly. Eventually, she left her blankets and pillow behind to sleep outside under the stars. She actually kind of enjoyed it.

Things for Neuro weren't good either. His stomach got sick a few days in, and Jay kept telling people he wanted to be matched against him, because it would be an easy win. Neuro also became enemies with Skylor. He regarded her as a power-hoarder. She was trying to bump into every fighter, but she hadn't gotten to Neuro However, Kai had an immediate crush on her, which made the other ninja trust her.

Both of them were relieved when they finally reached Chen's Island. The plank was lowered again, and the fighters began walking up a long series of stairs. When they reached the top, the doors opened revealing a beautifully decorated Palace. Drummers lined the sides of the purple carpet which the fighters walked along. Kylie sat down next to Neuro as we made a semi-circle were Clouse directed us to sit.

"All rise for Master Chen!" He said as each of the competitors stood. A throne was lowered onto the ground where we were. He gestured for the fighters to sit back down; each of them listened to the direction.

"Welcome to the Tournament of Elements! Now, everyone can all di-! "The doors slammed shut behind them, and Kylie prepared for a battle. "-Rect your attention to me!" Chen finished. Kylie rolled my eyes, but he didn't notice.

"The rules to this tournament are simple. Every round is different; no two fights will be the same!" Clouse walked over to a chest and pulled out a blade. "Behold," Chen said, "A Jade Blade. Here it represents life. Obtain it, and you move on. Allow your opponent to take it; loser!"

"What does Karloff win?" asked Karloff, the master of metal.

Chen looked at him and then smiled, "Win and stay on the island. Win it all and you'll receive fortunes beyond your wildest dreams, and, lifetime supply of Master Chen's noodles. But no one is here for noodles. No, you want the glory of being the greatest fighter ever!"

"And what happens if they lose?" asked Garmadon.

"Lose? Who here likes to lose?" Chen said. Kylie made a mental not to get out the first round, then, if she hadn't found her brother, find out whether or not the losers did really get to go home.

"Umm… Master Chen?" asked Griffin Turner, but he went by Turner, "I thought you said this was a tournament, but if there are 17 of us fighting, how is the tournament going to be fair?"

Chen smiled, "Ah yes, that's why the first round begins right now. There are sixteen Jade Blades hidden around the island. The sixteen of you that bring one back will be moving on to the next rounds. Whoever returns to the palace arena, which is right here, empty handed is out! Ready, begin!" and all the fighters all ran for the exits to find one.

Kylie quickly put together the clues from her sixth sense, and realized that the Jade Blade Clouse held up was one of the sixteen. She ran toward it, but Turner was faster. "Too slow!" he yelled, handing it to Clouse and securing a place in the sixteen moving on. Kylie sighed and ran outside to look around. Eventually, she came up with the idea to go up to the cliff near the waterfall to give her a better view of the island. Unfortunately for her, Kai had the same idea.

Kai had found a sword in the palace and he had it now, in a fighting stance and watching Kylie. Kylie smirked and a black and white aura appeared in her hand. "Violin!" she yelled, causing the stringed instrument to solidify in her hands. A bow also appeared, and she threw the instrument itself on the ground. She then held the bow as if it was a sword. Kai snorted and ran at her, smirking.

Kai's smirk disappeared the second the swords clashed. Kai had no clue that a simple piece of wood with horse hair could match his sword; it had to have been a special bow. Kylie was actually quite skilled with a sword, but that was what Kai was best with one. Eventually, he struck the sword from her hands. "Oh poor girl, stuck at the edge of a cliff with no one to help her!" he taunted.

Kylie glared at him, "I thought ninja fought with honor, not by pathetically trying to insult your enemies. Some ninja you are, you haven't eaten beat me."

"Yeah, I will have beaten you in a few seconds," he said, swinging his sword over his head. Kylie grabbed the sword by the blade, ignoring the pain and the cuts forming on her hands. Kai gasped, stunned. Kylie used that to her advantage, yanking the sword out of Kai's hands. Kylie was the one closer to the edge though, but she saw a glint of sunlight reflecting off a Jade Blade. It was underwater!

"Adios!" she said smiling and jumping off of the cliff, confusing Kai. She dived into the water and swam down as fast as she could. Eventually, she noted that the water pressure was getting uncomfortable, but she kept pushing. The lake was about one hundred feet deep, and after about a minute she got there. She grabbed the blade, and pushed back up. When she reached the top, she wasn't gasping for air like Kai expected her to be. Kai had waited there to see what was going on. She smiled and waved the Jade Blade at him. She outran Kai to the arena, and turned the Blade into Clouse, allowing her to relax.

* * *

Things were quite difficult for Neuro, who was quick to find a blade, but other fighters' elemental powers were stronger for this type of fight. He had gotten a blade, but Gravis had gotten it from him. He had a second one, but now the master of shadow had a hand around his neck.

"Give me the blade. I ain't got a problem with a person dying in the tournament." Neuro was gasping for breath.

"There's another one behind the bookshelf," he chocked out. The shadow master knocked the shelf over and released his grip.

"Sorry," he said, "I just ain't getting out in the first round. I'm Shadow, but please call me Shade." Neuro nodded, and the two of them ran towards the palace arena with their blades. Kylie smiled when she saw Neuro coming; she was worried because there were only five blades left. The last person to find one was Kai, who really didn't deserve to move on because he cheated.

"We have a loser!" said Chen, and a trapdoor opened, causing him to fall down. Neuro was now even more nervous, as he wasn't sure whether or not a loser would survive a fall. I loss here in the tournament, could lead to a loss of life.

* * *

 **(A/N) So there's the next chapter. I hope you liked it. Chapters will either have no POV, or be in Kylie's, because I don't know which I like more. I really want more reviews, because I want to know if you actually like the story at all. I probably won't update for several days, so sorry in advance.**

 **Until next time**

 **-Frostbite**


	4. The Mind

Chapter 4

(No one's POV)

"Here's a lesson for you all," said Chen, "Never bight the hands that feed you, Master Chen's delicious noodles!" Most of the fighters were still in shock from watching Karloff fall to his doom. One of Chen's guards rang a gong, which split open, revealing a bracket. It must have been put together while the search for blades was on, because it already showed the sixteen of them that had moved on.

"Good, it looks like we're each in our own bracket!" Kai said to the other ninja. They looked relived, and looked to find out who their opponent would be. Lloyd shrugged; he was against Camille, the master of form. He didn't know too much about her. Cole looked nervous; after all he was going to fight the master of gravity, Gravis. Kai was against Ash, the master of smoke, and his expression was unreadable.

"Hey guys!" said Jay excitedly, "Good news! I know I'll be moving on because I'm going against the music girl!" The others all commented, telling Jay how lucky he was.

When Kylie heard them talking about her, she walked over to the bracket. After looking at, she laughed and told Jay she was sorry about his bad luck.

Neuro was one of the last to walk over to the brackets. He was paired up against the master of light. His name was Invizable Pale. Neuro did know how to fight, but he wasn't sure whether or not he would do well against someone he couldn't see half of the time.

The fighters had all seen their first opponents, so Chen spoke again. "I advise you to get some rest; the tournament will recommence this afternoon."

Then Clouse spoke up, "You'll now each be shown to your rooms." A door opened and jesters, kabuki, Garmadon called them, walked in, and each led a fighter to a set of stairs. Garmadon said something to the ninja, but they didn't hear what he said.

"This is your suite, ma'am," said the kabuki that led Kylie to the top floor.

"Please just call me Kylie," said Kylie. She hated being called ma'am by others.

"Master Chen has instructed us all to call his guests by sir or ma'am, ma'am," Chen's servant was really getting on Kylie's nerves now.

"Do not call me by ma'am, okay. If it upsets Chen, tell him I did not wish to be given this title."

"Very well… Kylie" Finally the kabuki left, allowing Kylie looked around the suite. It was quite a nice place. There was a TV in her room, on the opposite wall from a rather large bed. There was a kitchen in her room, which Kylie was really pleased to see. She was amazed at the size of it. Since she loved to cook, it was twice as big as an average kitchen. She threw her bag on the bed and went outside to the balcony. The view was beautiful. She could see the cliff with the waterfall, and a forest. Beyond that, Kylie could see the sea; the water reflecting the sunlight, and the beautiful color. She looked at the balcony below her, to see Neuro. He was also looking at the view. Kylie made a note to drop by some time.

The door next to her opened, and the person who walked out was carrying a large, chocolate cake. The person was none other than Cole; the ninja Kylie hated most.

Cole looked to his right and saw Kylie, "Hey you, music girl!" he yelled, "What makes you so confident that you'll be in the next round?"

"Jay's overconfidence, duh; out of all of you, he's the one that gets cocky the quickest. He'll start making jokes the second the fight begins, and I'll grab the blade," Cole asked Kylie how she knew he would and she said, "That's what he did when he fought the skeleton, serpentine, stone samurai, and nindroids. Why would I be any different?"

"Wait, how do you know all that?"

"Well, you're the famous ninja; everyone knows that," that really wasn't true, but Cole seemed to buy it.

"Thanks, I'll tell Jay to shut up during fights. Now he'll win for sure"

"Nah, I'm still a better fighter. You should know Cole, didn't we both take self-defense classes at Clearview's School for the Arts?" asked Kylie, naming the school Cole attended after leaving Marty Oppenheimer School of Performing Arts. There, the teachers offered, besides academics, classes on art, music, theater, and self-defense. Kylie had taken all four, and Cole took only self-defense.

"Wait, your KJ?" asked Cole.

"Yep, that's my nickname. I'm the girl who you called a list of names. Let see, you called me weak, freak, weak-freak, loser, dork, emo, and many that I will not repeat. I was also the girl you said didn't belong, and you tried to kill once. I still have the scar," Kylie said, brushing back her hair on the left side of her head, revealing a long scar just above her ear, "How did you ever become a ninja after such a rude past. And it's normal, not emo, for someone to be upset after their father dies and her brother ends up having to deal with amnesia, so maybe you should figure out what's making a person act different before you make their life horrible. And you really shouldn't try to kill people' I mean, that's never cool!"

When Cole had gone to that school, he was only 13. That was five years ago, and h had nearly forgotten about it. He was upset too, because his father didn't know he didn't want to follow in his footsteps, but that barely justified him tormenting her. He really didn't think that calling her pathetic names would really affect her. Kylie was an emotional wreck, however, because she was alone in the world, as well as her brother, who was only two years old. No one would expect him to be able to take care of himself at such a young age, but he did. Kylie didn't know that until he started sending her letters three years later. But at the time she went to Clearview's, for all she knew, she was alone in the world.

Cole was pale in the face, and he nearly dropped the cake. "KJ, I'm sorry; I really shouldn't have done that to you." Kylie just rolled her eyes, making Cole sigh. He turned around and walked back into his room. Kylie had nothing better to do, so she decided to see what Neuro was up to. She called out to him, and when she got his attention, she slid over the edge of the balcony, and landed on his. "Hi!" she said, "Just decided to drop by!"

"No kidding," said Neuro, a smile forming on his face. He turned his attention to something on his left, and Kylie realized he was painting. It was a forest, similar to the one on the island, but it was obvious that he had changed a few things.

"I take it you like art," Kylie said before realizing that was almost exactly what she said to him when he was reading on the boat.

"Yeah, that's why I have a painting that's halfway done sitting on my balcony," Neuro said, as Kylie blushed.

The two of them sat there for a while, neither of them really knowing the time that passed. Kylie turned her head to look at the layout of Neuro's room. It was really nice, just like hers. The suite didn't have any sort of kitchen, so Kylie assumed that there was some sort of cafeteria here at the island. It had a room that was perfectly set up for art, so Kylie assumed it was one of his hobbies. There was a second room that appeared to basically be a library; all the walls had full bookshelves on them, with a couch in the center of the room. Despite all of that, the room did have a lot of space in it.

Neuro had finished his forest painting and although Kylie hadn't realized it yet, he had started a second one. It was a portrait of Kylie. One of his favorite art styles was portraits, and he found himself making them before he had even realized he was creating art. It the painting, she was fighting Jay. The ninja of lightning was holding nun-chucks in his hands, but Kylie had blocked it by grabbing Jay's wrists and kicking him in the stomach. The background wasn't clear, just swirls of light blue and white. He was then aware of Kylie looking at the painting.

"Do you like it? This is what's going to happen during your first fight," he said. Kylie smiled.

"I hope so," she said.

"I know so."

"Why? As the master of mind, can you like read the future?"

"No, I just really doubt that Jay has any sort of chance against you."

Kylie blushed, "You'll probably win your fight too, but do you know when it is?"

"Today in… fifteen minutes."

Kylie's eyes widened, "How do you know that; I thought you couldn't predict the future."

"I can't," said Neuro, "But I can read minds. My power comes in three ways. First, I can read other people's minds. With each person, it's hard to read minds at first, but eventually it gets quicker and easier, but each person's mind is different. I could read your mind a million times, but if I tried to read a new person's mind, it would be quite difficult. I call those read waves, because I'm reading the thoughts of others. I read Chen's mind, so I know my fight is soon. The second way I use my power, is by what I call suggestion waves. I can send a thought or action into a person's head, and they'll do it, or think it. It's similar to my read waves, because the more I send them into a specific person, the easier it gets. That's what I did to the thug in the alleyway the night we first met."

"So you basically have telepathy?" asked Kylie. Neuro nodded, and then continued.

"The third way I use my gift is through force waves, which I basically use to push someone or something back, away from me."

"How strong of something can you push back?"

"It depends on how relaxed I am. For other people, their elements work better when they aren't tired. The same goes for me, but with my mind. If I'm stressed out, my element will be weak. That's why I'm painting right now. Art, especially portraits are relaxing, so my mind should be stronger for the battle."

"Good luck," said Kylie.

"What does luck have to do with the battle?"

"Nothing; huh, I guess you have a point. Oh, by the way, when he turns invisible, he gets louder. If you can't hear him, you just need to read his mind. The waves should point you in the right direction."

"Thanks KJ, that's a good idea."

The two of them smiled at each other, both noticing the light blush tinting the other's cheeks; then of course, a kabuki knocked and told Neuro that he had a battle in five minutes and that she'd escort to his arena. Neuro told her he was on his way, and said goodbye to Kylie.

"Hey Neuro," she said.

"Yeah?"

"Um… if you don't end up winning, I just want to thank you for coming with me for my brother."

"No problem," Neuro said smiling. The Kylie did the last thing he expected. She hugged him, and Neuro returned it. It was short, and Kylie had a very deep blush on her face.

"Yeah, um… thanks. I kinda needed that. It's just hard, 'cause I have a feeling it's a trap, so um… thanks." Neuro smiled, and walked into his suite. Kylie jumped up to her balcony and out the door, where one of her kabuki led her to the place where the other fighters would watch to see the fights. Kylie's sixth sense told her that Neuro had a fifty percent chance of winning.

The master of music took one last glance at Neuro as he followed his kabuki outside and wondered, "I wonder if he feels the same way towards me as I do towards him."

* * *

 **(A/N) Hi! That chapter was up a lot quicker that I expected it to be :) I appreciate all the reviews, and I'd like to have some more. By the way:**

 **Guest that reviewed and said they wanted to see Kylie's brother in action, you already have, I'm just not saying when.**

 **Fangirl101, I've given some clues as to Kylie's brother in the story, I wonder if you'll figure out whether or not you know him.**

 **Darkrainbow, Thanks for the cookies!**

 **Until next time**

 **-Frostbite**


	5. The Banquet

Chapter 5

(Kylie's POV)

"Invizable, master of light, verses Neuro, master of mind. Ready, fight!" said Master Chen. I bit my lip as the fight started. The fight took place outside, near a large rock. On top of the rock was the Jade Blade. Invizable bent the light around him, and disappeared immediately. Neuro shut his eyes, trying to read his mind.

From next to me, Lloyd got impatient, "What kind of fight is this?" The fighters who weren't either currently fighting or about to fight were sitting on benches, where they could see all three of the arenas. The arenas were below the benches, so we got a good view. I was standing over the arena watching the fight, unfortunately, the ninja and Garmadon were right next to me.

"Just wait," said Garmadon. I smirked and watched as Neuro successfully read Invizable's mind. The master of light ran up right behind Neuro, but he turned and punched him in the stomach. That caused Invizable to lose focus, and he became visible. Neuro used this to his advantage, and ran to the rock. The rock was very large, and completely smooth, causing a lot of difficulty in climbing it. Invizable ran up to the rock, but Neuro used his force waves to push him back.

That seemed to have given Neuro an idea. I sensed that he was figuring out how to get to the top of the rock. He used force waves again, but aiming them towards the ground. The ground didn't move back, and he just stood there for about thirty seconds.

Jay laughed, "What kind of strategy is that?" but I knew what Neuro was planning. He was building up power. Then, he seemed to have enough, and the pressure of the force waves sent him flying in the air.

"Never underestimate the power of the mind!" I said to Jay. Neuro grabbed the Jade Blade, before sliding back down.

"Yeah!" he said, holding it up.

"Winner!" said Chen, pointing to Neuro, "Loser!" he pointed to Invizable. He pushed a button on his throne (it flew, so he took it nearly everywhere.) and a trapdoor appeared underneath Invizable. "The Master of mind moves on!" One of Chen's guards went over to the bracket and snapped Invizable's picture, and then moved Neuro's onto the next blank. His next opponent would either be Kai or Ash, the Master of smoke.

A few minutes later, Neuro went to the viewing area, where the fight between Shade and Toxikita. The stage they were fighting in was similar to a gladiator's arena, one big circle. At the very center of the ring, was the Jade Blade. Around the edges of the arena were weapons, all spaced out. "Shade, master of shadows versus Toxikita, master of poison; ready, fight!" The two of them both ran towards each other. Tox shot a poison cloud at Shade, but he disappeared into her shadow. Then, he jumped out of it, grabbed her by the shoulders, and kicked her at the back of the knees. She fell to the ground, and he sprinted toward the Jade Blade, only to be blocked by another poison cloud. That gave Toxikita a good opening, and she fired a burst of poison at Shade. Then, he went into the poison's shadow, and when Tox ran to find him, he slipped into her shadow. Not seeing Shade anywhere, Tox sprinted toward the Jade Blade. As she did, Shade jumped out of her shadow and in front of her. He reached the Jade Blade first, and held it up, a small smile at the edges of his mouth slowly spread as a trapdoor appeared under Tox, and she feel off out of the stadium. Shade's picture was moved on to the next round, where he'd either fight Skylor or Jacob, the master of sound.

The last fight was Kai and Ash, but I didn't pay attention to it. Kai ended up winning, which would make Neuro's next fight very difficult. That wouldn't be for several days though, so it wouldn't be very soon. I looked at the bracket to determine the fights.

In the round of eight fighters, Kai would be against Neuro.

Shade would either fight Lloyd or Camille.

If I won, I would either fight Turner or Bolobo, depending on who won.

If he beat Gravis, Cole would fight against Jacob or Skylor for his next fight. I was hoping to find my brother soon, but at least I wouldn't have to fight Neuro until the finals, if we both lasted that long.

Chen invited us all to a banquet that evening. He sat on his throne while his servants brought over more food to him. The rest of us sat in a table shaped like a half circle. There were some platters of food on the table, and kabuki came around offering more food. The food was really good, although I still think I was a better cook. I'm surprised Chen didn't show how offended he must be when Lloyd refused the horned wasp eggs; they were delicious. Next to me, Neuro was hardly eating anything.

"Hey Neuro, is everything alright?" I asked.

"I don't know, I guess I'm just not hungry."

"Is it because of the fight?"

"Maybe; I'm just not sure whether the losers are surviving the fall from the trapdoor. I feel kind of guilty that I won." I sighed.

"Hey Neuro, has anyone ever told you that you were to nice? They'll be fine; I'm sure Chen wouldn't kill them. He shook his head, but he seemed to be more comfortable eating after that. A few minutes later, he looked up. I followed his gaze and saw that he was looking at a man. He looked really confused, as if he recognized him.

"Do you know who he is, Neuro?"

He looked at me and said, "Not personally, but doesn't he look like Skylor?" I took a look at him, and realized that Neuro was right. They both had hazel eyes, and a long face, and very tan skin. Both of their lips were pale, and they were both red-heads. The man wasn't a fighter, but also wasn't a servant. He stood with his back to the wall, and was grabbing food from dishes when kabuki brought them by. Around his neck was a crystal necklace. I looked closer, and I saw that it had a light blue shine to it.

"Do you think the two of them are related?" I asked Neuro. He shrugged and suggested that he could read his mind. "But won't Chen see the waves, and get suspicious?"

"Yes, unless I focus completely. If I do, I can read minds invisibly, but it leaves me exhausted afterwards. I can wait for another time, unless you want to know now." I nodded, and he shut his eyes and rested his head in his hands. About three minutes later his eyes opened.

"His name's… Tyler, and he is a servant to Chen, but he's related to him somehow. I'm pretty sure he's Chen's son. Some sort of…plot… some spell for… power… and somehow relating to the serpentine." I had underestimated what Neuro said when he told me he'd be exhausted. He was struggling to keep his eyes open, and he was fighting to keep his head off the table.

Just then, Chen spoke up, "I hope you enjoyed the food. The tournament will have four matches tomorrow and one the next day!" The fighters all got up and walked back to their room, each following their kabuki. I stood and helped Neuro stand up. The two of us walked back, Neuro leaning on my shoulder the whole way. When we reached his floor, I opened the door and he walked in, muttering a good-bye to me. He literally fell on his bed and fell asleep right away. I had written a note during the banquet to; if he was awake enough, to be outside on his balcony at midnight. I set the note a desk near his bed, and left. I went up to my room, and set an alarm clock for 11:30. Then I relaxed, and let sleep come. Tonight, I would find out if this tournament would really would have a winner, of if Chen would eliminate us all.

* * *

 **(A/N) I'm back! So sorry about the long wait, I was trying to write my entry for a competition, so I was busy. The next update will come sooner. Also, if any of you have figured out who Kylie's brother is, you should review. Just write whether or not you've figured it out, not who it is, there might be others who don't know. And Dark rainbow (guest who has reviewed several times) I'm adding the OC you requested, but I'm changing a few things.**

 **Until next time,**

 **-Frostbite**


	6. The Spies

Chapter 6

I woke up three minutes before my alarm clock went off. I shut it off, and got dressed. I put on my ninja gi; I had one as well as the ninja. It was black and white, with the symbol for music on the hood and on the back, both in a light blue. I slid my black gloves on. And checked myself in the mirror, making sure my short blonde hair was tucked in the hood so it wouldn't get caught on anything. I took a deep breath and walked onto my balcony.

I slid over the edge and held onto the bottom of it. I looked down, and sure enough, Neuro was there. He had a lantern sitting on his balcony, and was painting the night sky. There was also a girl in his picture. She was facing sideways, and had a small smile on her face. Her hair went all the way down to her ankles; it was a shadow black with blonde streaks in it. Her eyes were the color of the ocean from a distance, and they were large, slightly smaller than Neuro's. Her skin was very fair, and she had a black T-shirt with a wolf's face on it. She also wore a gray skirt that went just past her knees with red flowers on it. She had black and white running shoes and green red socks on her feet. She was, in a word, beautiful. I had a guess that Neuro was painting the person he loved. I don't know why, but I felt a pang of sadness in my chest at the thought.

I thought about just going to look around by myself, but he looked up just then.

"Hey, KJ, are we going or not?"

"Oh…hi Neuro; yeah, let's go." I dropped onto his balcony, and the two of us walked into his room.

"So, do you even know where we're going?" he asked, and I mentally face-palmed. When we were on the boat coming here, he told me I missed obvious things. Well, he was right; I was so excited about searching for my brother, I forgot about the guards.

"Um… I kind of forgot about that. Do you have any ideas?"

"Maybe, you might want to see this." I followed him to the room that appeared to serve as an art room. It was a very nice room, and I saw that he was not exactly organized. There were papers, pencils, and paint all over the room, but the one place that wasn't cluttered was his desk. He went over to the desk, and pushed it into the wall. That must have triggered something, because he jumped back right before a hole appeared where he was standing.

"Cool, secret passageways; those things are really cool," I said, "Do you know where it leads to?"

"No, I haven't gone down there at all."

"Why not; it looks awesome," I said.

He turned to me and quietly said, "I'm kind of afraid of heights; especially when I don't know what's at the bottom."

"Oh, so that's why you really hated the trapdoor in the fight today." I looked at him. His normally tan skin was pale, and he was biting his bottom lip. "Are you going to be okay?" He nodded, and I offered to go first.

"No, I think I'll be fine," he said, determined. He took a deep breath and jumped down the hole, screaming all the way. I heard him trying to catch his breath, and I slid down the hole after him.

I heard him groan when I realized I landed on his arm. It was pitch black down there, and I couldn't see anything. I thought for a moment, and then I climbed back up the wall. I walked out to Neuro's balcony, and grabbed the lantern sitting on it. I then jumped back down the hole, barely missing Neuro's head. I held the lantern out and the two of us walked down the tunnel. Neuro was memorizing the path so we'd find our way back.

"So," I said, "Are you still tired from dinner?"

"Not really; I slept for about four hours, then just sat on my balcony and painted for a while."

"I think I saw the last painting; who was that girl?"

"Oh, her name's Klara, but I call her Claire."

"Do you like… love her or something, or is she just a friend that you were painting?"

"She's not a friend, I do love her."

"That's nice." I felt that same pang of sadness in my chest when he said that. We then came to a large opening in the floor. The two of us climbed down it, but I had to wait a few minutes before Neuro made it all the way down. We kept going, but some guards passed us. They were all chanting, and we decided that the two of us had to follow them to figure out what was going on. When another group of guards passed us, I knocked two of them unconscious and we dressed in their clothing. The guards we stopped were Clouse's guards (the ones with red hoods on) so others wouldn't be able to see what we looked like. Neuro and I continued, now dressed in red cloaks. We followed the other guards, and noticed that Clouse's guards were along the outer wall, while Chen's (the guards that had the bone helmet things) were chanting in the middle of the floor. I followed Neuro as we lined up with our backs to the walls.

A few minutes later, I noticed the ninja walk in disguised as Chen's guards. I snickered at the fact that they thought chocolate tattoos would work efficiently. Chen came down on his flying throne, and two guards came in flanking Ash, Tox, Karloff, and Invizable. They were forced to bend down, and Chen's staff glowed white. A gray fog came out, and went into the losers, who were now prisoners. A different colored aura went out of each of them, and they fell to the ground. I gasped, realizing that they had lost their powers. Then I realized that there were two people on the platform with Chen that I didn't recognize or know very well.

The first was Tyler, who I had seen at the banquet. This time, I got a better look at him. He was wearing a red hoodie, which surprised me because everyone else, besides the other girl I didn't know was dressed formally. I could see the top of an orange T-shirt underneath his hoodie. He had dark blue jeans and Neon orange running shoes. The necklace around his neck was still there, and I could see a dagger hidden in his pocket.

The second, I recognized as Klara, the girl from Neuro's painting. She looked exactly the same as Neuro's painting portrayed her, and she was also holding a dagger, but in her right hand. I also saw that she had a sword and a scabbard attached to a belt around her skirt. I tightened my grip on my French Chef's knife (the sharpest one I had) a pocket of my gi. I had taken it from the kitchen in my suite.

Then, I heard the ninja, complaining about how the chocolate was melting, and then they ran out, with the guards chasing them. It was just my luck also, because I sneezed so hard, my feminine voice could be heard clearly. It turns out that none of Clouse's servants were girls, so I ran out a separate tunnel that the ninja. Luckily, Neuro wasn't spotted, and he stayed behind, and didn't draw any attention to himself.

I ran, being chased by Tyler and Klara. Tyler had thrown Klara's dagger at me, but I dodged it. I continued running. Tyler had two more knives and Klara had forgotten about her sword and had knocked an arrow onto her bow. I deflected the first arrow with my knife, but threw that aside so I could run faster. I made my black and white aura form between my hands as I yelled out, "Drum!" A drum formed and I dropped it onto the ground. I played it as loudly as I could, and that made the ground shake, a drum was a very earthy material, so it is only logical that the ground shifted. As it shook, Klara fell to the ground, but Tyler pulled a series of flips and cartwheels successfully dodging the attacks. Then suddenly, he disappeared.

I stood up (I was seated while playing the drum) and looked around. Klara was slowly getting up, but I was more worried about Tyler. He appeared behind me, and grabbed me, flipping me carelessly over his shoulder and onto my back. I was sprawled out on the floor. Tyler approached me with a knife, Klara right next to him. I sighed; I had always imagined dying protecting the innocent, like I was supposed to do, or saving my little brother from some threat, not by losing a battle carelessly.

Suddenly, however, they both dropped to the ground, and rested their heads in their hands. Obviously, their heads were doing something strange. I used that chance to knock Tyler out with the handle of the knife he held. I tried to do the same to Klara, by hitting it on her head, but it didn't work. Then I looked up to see Neuro, who had taken off his cloak, revealing his gray sweatshirt, not zipped up at all, and his orange shirt. He held out his hand for the knife. When I gave it to him, he hit her on her left shoulder blade, and she fell unconscious. He said that that way she didn't feel any pain because she wasn't sensitive at all there.

"Explanation, please," I said, crossing my arms.

"Um… I forgot to tell you that my power can also give people headaches."

"No, about how you knew that would work." He smiled, and walked back, but didn't tell me anything. As Neuro and I walked back to his suite, I kept trying to get him to tell me how he knew, but he refused to tell me.

About five minutes later, I sneezed again; a few other guards heard me and I almost swore. I heard footsteps coming our way and I turned to Neuro.

"Got any ideas?" I asked.

"Yes I do; follow me." He turned and ran the other way. I followed him, confused at where we were going. We reached a fork in the tunnel, and without hesitating, he turned left. Then he turned right. Then left, left, right, left, right, right, right, left, and then left.

"Do you even know where you're going Neuro?" He nodded, and came to a stop. I ran into him. He went over to the wall of the labyrinth and put his hand on the wall. He slid his hand around it, and then stopped, as if he had found what he was looking for. He pushed the brick in, and the bricks near it slid into the other bricks nearby. Soon, there was a hole in the bricks big enough for the two of us to fit through. He slid through it and I followed.

On the other side, there was a string about three inches above the ground.

"Is it a booby trap?" I asked.

"No; it's here for people that know the island's secrets." He pulled the rope and the bricks from the hole we climbed through fit back in place. I stood there marveling at how well he knew the island, so when I turned around, I had to catch up to Neuro who was running again. The only light there was came from torches sitting on the sides of the labyrinth. Neuro picked one up, and kept running.

About five minutes later, he stopped. I ran into him again. There was a metal object sitting on the wall, and Neuro put his torch in it. A large chunk of the roof opened up, and he took a deep breath before beginning to climb up it. I followed him, and the roof slid shut behind me.

I looked up, seeing that there was about one hundred feet of rock, which led the place we had started after jumping through the hole in Neuro's suite. Neuro was standing next to me, on the top of the roof which had slid back into place. He looked nervous again; obviously he didn't like climbing up either.

Eventually, he walked over to the wall, and found pieces of rock that were sticking out of the wall. He began climbing. I followed after he had gotten a third of the way up. When he was about twenty feet from the top, he slipped. He fell, screaming. I wondered what it felt like to have your worst fear coming true in the middle of the night. As he fell right by me, I was able to grab his arm, and keep him from crashing into the ground. He thanked me, and the two of us finally made it to the top.

Then of course, we both had to climb the last part of wall to get into his suite, but Neuro made it just fine. I thanked him for stopping Tyler and Klara, getting us away from the guards, and coming with me to find more information. Then I walked onto his balcony, and jumped to mine and entered my suite. My clock told me it was one thirty in the morning, but I wasn't tired yet. Neuro seemed to be finishing his painting below me. He looked to be almost done though, and would probably go to bed afterward.

"Hey Neuro, do you think we'd be suspicious going to breakfast looking exhausted tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I think we would," he answered.

"I got a kitchen in my suite. Do you want to come over for breakfast at like eight tomorrow?"

"That sounds good. I'll be there; night KJ."

"Night Neuro." I walked back into my suite and decided to get a better look around her suite, which I didn't seem to do at first. I had a library in my room, but it wasn't as big as Neuro's. There was a room that just seemed to have books on the outside, with a large space in the middle, but when I got a closer look, the books were all music books. I decided to room was dedicated for playing music.

I was ready to go to bed. I brushed my teeth, and switched my gi for pajamas. I set my alarm for seven and lay down on my bed. I decided I'd have to find out more about Neuro and Klara, as well as how he knew the island so well. I'd have to find out if my ally was really and ally.

And with that, sleep finally came.

* * *

 **(A/N) So there's chapter 6. I appreciate the reviews, and I've added the OC's that have been requested, but please don't ask for more for this story. I want to ask storywriter2003 if I can change the age of Klara, because the age you requested doesn't fit with my plan for the story. Can I please change it to 19? I will try to hurry with the next chapter.**

 **Until next time,**

 **-Frostbite**


	7. The Additions

Chapter 7

The sound of a buzzing alarm clock filled Kylie's room. She slowly opened her eyes and debated pressing the 'snooze' button for a few more minutes of sleep. Eventually, the master of music decided against it and dragged herself out of bed, shutting of the alarm clock as she got up.

Kylie yawned and showered, before putting another gi on, but it was still the same design. She made a mental note to wash her gi later that day, if she got the chance. Kylie looked at the sunrise outside, and wondered if Neuro was looking at it right now.

"Seriously, KJ; you have to stop thinking about him. He likes someone else, so just forget about it!" she told herself. Kylie sighed; she didn't even know when you know that you have feelings for someone. Her little would probably be confused and ask, "Can't you like two people?" but she couldn't blame him. He was only six.

"Wait! Make that seven," Kylie said to herself (she talked to herself a lot; she found herself to be quite an interesting person.) "Today's his birthday!" then out loud she said, "Happy birthday, Brother."

The next thing Kylie had to decide was what to cook for breakfast. She decided to make waffles and bacon, and hope Neuro wasn't a vegetarian. She would be so embarrassed if he was, but her sixth sense told her that she wouldn't have to worry about that. Soon, the smell of frying bacon filled Kylie's suite as she was finishing preparing breakfast.

The very second Kylie's clock turned to eight; she heard three knocks on the door. They were loud enough to be heard from anywhere in the suite, but quiet enough so they wouldn't wake up a sleeping person.

Kylie's timing was very good; she was putting the last of the bacon on two plates when she heard the knocks. "Coming!" she yelled as she made her way over to the door. She opened it and saw Neuro standing there.

Breakfast went extremely smoothly, as the two elemental masters ate. Earlier the previous day, their kabuki had come by to tell them to be at the palace arena by nine-thirty. Neuro had told Kylie that her cooking was amazing, causing Kylie to blush. 'What am I thinking?' she thought, 'He's just a nice guy, but he loves another girl, he told you himself.' At nine-fifteen, Neuro and Kylie walked downstairs to the palace arena, and were the first there besides Clouse, Chen, and some of their guards. The two of them sat in the same place as before, and were soon joined by the others fighters. The thirteen elemental masters remaining were all talking to others, so Neuro assumed that they had formed alliances, or just became friends.

"Thank you all for being here. There are two more people I wish to introduce to you!" said Chen. "They will make our tournament much more interesting."

"Wait Master Chen, are these two people going to be in the tournament?" asked Turner. "Because why didn't they have to participate in the first round?"

"They will be in the tournament, but not to win. You see, there are going to be fights where more than two people go at a time, so they will be joining us, but they won't be in the bracket, and there for aren't directly fighting one other person. The first person I'd like to introduce is Tyler Chen, my son."

Tyler stepped forward. So he was Chen's son; Neuro was right. "So, yeah, my name's Tyler and I am the master of teleportation."

Kylie rolled her eyes. Teleportation wasn't an element, and the only other elemental fighter that seemed to know that was Neuro. Everyone else seemed to believe it though, and that really annoyed the two of them. The second, Klara, was talking to Chen. I sensed that she wanted to do her own introduction.

"Hi, my name's Klara; Klara Salton. I'm the elemental master of sorcery, which is from my grandpa and skipped over my mother."

Kylie wanted to repeatedly hit her head on a nearby wall. That wasn't an element either. It was a practice that could be acquired after years of focus, practice, and dedication. Many people were sorcerers.

"Also," said Chen. "The next two matches start now. They will be all out battles. Here are the rules. A kabuki will escort you to the arena where the two battles will take place. The only two fighters who will not participate in the first match are Lloyd and Camille because they will be fighting each other in the second match today. Everyone will be given two wrist bands, of their team color. In the first match, red will represent Turner's team, and green will represent Bolobo's team. In the second round, Lloyd will be green and Camille will be purple. You are given ten minutes to decide a team color, after that you cannot switch teams. It will, to be blunt, be a brawl. The teams will fight each other, but the teams may not be even. Each team will have a Jade Blade. You can pass the Jade Blade to your teammates, but if it falls to the ground, that team loses. Do you have any questions, anyone? Good, now follow the kabuki!"

The contestants, and Tyler and Klara all followed a kabuki to the arena. It was the same place Shade fought Tox, a large ring with several weapons on the sides. On one wall were many pairs of green, red, and purple wristbands. Lloyd and Camille were seated on opposite sides of the arena, but higher up, so they wouldn't be affected by the fight. The layout of the arena, minus the weapons reminded Neuro of Rome's Colosseum. The kabuki left and the fighters all walked over to the wall, selecting the wristbands that they wanted.

The first to grab them were obviously Turner and Bolobo, each grabbing their respective colors. After about two minutes, the teams were settled.

On Bolobo's team were Jay, Kai, Cole, Gravis, Skylor, and Jacob. It was slightly ironic that Jacob and Skylor were on the same team as well as Cole and Gravis because they'd be fighting each other for their next fight.

On Turner's team were Kylie, Neuro, Klara, Tyler, and Shade. The other team had one more teammate, but Kylie had faced worse odds in her life. There were still about seven minutes before the fight began, so she decided to talk to Neuro, but when she walked over to him, Klara was with him.

"Hey Nerd-o!" she said to him, smiling. "It's been a while since I've last seen you." The two of them hugged, and Kylie felt another pang of sadness in her chest. Kylie sighed, which caused Neuro and Klara to hear her.

"Oh, hey KJ!" said Neuro. "This is Klara, my sister."

"Wait, she's your sister?"

Neuro nodded, "Yes, I told you I had a sister when we were in Ninjago City."

"But, didn't you say you like, love her?"

"Yes, because she's my sister. Is there something wrong with loving a sibling?"

"But, oh. Okay. I um… thought you were like…" Kylie started, but was cut off by Klara.

"You thought we were dating." Kylie nodded, and a look of disgust crossed both of their faces.

"Okay… that was just wrong; so wrong on so many levels!" said Klara.

"Agreed," said Neuro. "So Claire, this is my friend Kylie."

"Your girlfriend Kylie?" she asked smirking.

"No! She's not; she's just a friend!" said Neuro

"It's nice to meet you, Kylie," said Klara, holding out her hand.

"Please, call me KJ," said Kylie, taking Klara's hand and shaking it.

"So, do you have any siblings?"

"Yes, a little brother. He's really sweet and writes me letters twice a week. He's seven today. It must be nice to have a brother so close to your age; I'm almost eleven years older than him. I'm eighteen next month."

"I'm twenty in two months, and Neuro's only a year younger than me. What's your brother's name?" Klara asked Kylie.

"It's –"Kylie was cut off by Master Chen.

"Okay, time to begin! A jade blade for you, Turner, master of speed; and here's another for you Bolobo, master of nature. Are both teams ready? Begin!"

"So do we have a plan, or what?" asked Turner, as he ran away from the other team, flashing quickly from place to place.

"Yeah, we do," Kylie said. "Wing it!"

"What kind of plan is that?" asked Tyler, teleporting right next to Kylie.

Klara, who was fighting Jay, so he couldn't help his team, spoke up. "It's a simple plan, so people who don't have half a brain understand what to do." Lightning formed between Jay's hands, and he shot it out at Klara, but the sorcerer formed a dark purple dome around her. The lighting hit it, turned purple, and went into the dome.

"What just happened to Psycho?" asked Shade. All of Turner's team looked to Neuro, who was fighting Jacob and Gravis. Right now he seemed to be doing well, but it was difficult because Gravis had him several feet in the air. Neuro gave both his opponents headaches, and Gravis' concentration failed, and Neuro dropped to the ground.

"She can absorb anything not solid though a spell creating a dome around her. Based on what it's chemically made of, it can make her stronger, faster, or stuff like that." He then covered his ears as Jacob sent a sound wave at him.

'Lightning is made of the collision of ice crystals in the sky, but lightning itself is an electric charge, so absorbing lighting must give Klara more energy,' thought Kylie, as she fought Skylor. Skylor seemed to be trying to use sound a lot, so that gave Kylie an idea. Kylie's power worked in several different ways. She could say an instrument's name, and it would appear in her hand. Different instruments had different effects on her, or her opponents in a battle. She could also yell out a musical term, and that would take effect on herself or other people. Kylie could also make a conductor's baton appear in her hands. A baton was used in symphonies to keep the musicians together and therefore, make the band stronger as a whole. It could also, by having others that were strong in one area, fix any mistakes any one person had. Therefore, Kylie could trace it on her skin, wherever she had a wound of any sorts, and, as long as it wasn't too severe, she could heal it. If she aimed an aura at someone without saying anything, they would be pushed back, and wherever the aura hit, they would be hurt. Her singing could put people to sleep, or break glass, or, it she focused, other materials.

"Pianissimo," Kylie said, naming a word for playing very soft, aiming her aura that formed between her hands at Skylor. When it hit her, Skylor was forced back a few feet, but she got back up. The master of amber tried to make a sound wave like she had copied from Jacob, but when it came out it was as soft as a whisper. Kylie had almost completely muted Skylor, but she'd only stay like that for about five minutes.

Kylie was right with her guess about Klara; the sorceress seemed to be alive with more energy than any of the others. She was fighting Jay very well. Jay, being the master of lightning, was quicker than everyone else besides Turner and Skylor, using lightning to enhance his speed. But with more energy, Klara was evenly matched. Eventually, one of her hits connected, and he fell against a wall of weapon. He grabbed a pair of nun-chucks, and ran at Klara. She was now stuck on defense, as she half-blocked and half-ran away. Shade was fighting Skylor, and Kylie was looking for someone to assist. But Tyler was fighting Cole. From the looks of it, he hated Cole most, and he was fighting with fury and passion; so much that Kylie had rarely seen or heard of a more passionate battle. Before long, Cole was on the ground, gasping for breath.

Kylie turned her attention to the sorceress on her team, and wondered how to help. Then, she felt a thought running through her mind. _For a fight like this, she's best with a sword or a bow and arrows._ Kylie realized it was Neuro talking to her. Figuring it would be difficult to get her a bow and a quiver, Kylie found a sword on a wall, and threw it at Jay. The angle was perfect, and it bounced off of the nun-chucks Jay was spinning at the perfect speed, and then into Klara's hand.

"Whoa… how the heck did you do that?" asked Tyler. "How'd you know the right angle?"

"Let's just say, I'm good at math," said Kylie, smiling. Then, she saw a Jade Blade flying at her. Turner had thrown it at her; he must have needed someone to throw it to. Kylie turned and threw the blade to Shade, who wasn't fighting anyone. He just sat near a wall of weapons and watched the fight, with the Jade Blade in his hands. Kai ran at the master of music, a sword in each hand.

"You aren't winning this time!" he yelled.

"I beg to differ," Kylie said smiling. Kai ran at her, lighting the swords on fire. Kylie just stood there. At the last second, she bent her back backwards, and Kai jabbed both swords over her, missing by mere centimeters. Kylie pulled into a backflip, springing back onto her feet. Kai ran at her again and flipped over him (Kai was leaning forward, so she didn't have to jump too high. Kai wasn't able to stop himself, and he ran into the wall behind him.

"Well someone wasn't listening when he was taught the art of the silent fist," Kylie taunted. Kai glared.

"Fire!" he yelled, dropping both swords and shooting fire at Kylie. But when it reached her, it fizzled away.

"Hey guys!" Kai yelled to Jay and Cole." Kylie's also the master of water!"

"She is?" asked Jay and Cole.

"You are?" asked Tyler, teleporting behind Cole and kicking him.

"I am? Alright, that's cool," said Kylie. Kai shot fire at her three more times, but they all fizzled out. She shot a music aura at Kai, and followed that up with a high kick that connected just below the fire master's neck. He howled in pain, and Kylie ran over to Tyler, who was lying on the ground.

"Baton," she whispered, and one formed in her left hand. She went over to Tyler, and traced it down a large cut on his neck, and then a few smaller ones on his arms and legs. He jumped up, and the two of them ran at Cole, who was wielding a scythe and a knife. Tyler teleported behind him, and grabbed his wrist, and yanked the knife away. The master of earth hit the ground hard, causing a pillar of rock to come out of the ground. Tyler then wrapped his arms around Cole's neck, but the ninja jabbed him in the sides with his free hind. Kylie knew he had super strength compared to other people, so he was able to wield a scythe in one hand, but he'd have to use both hands for most attacks. Kylie was especially skilled at hand to hand combat, or hand to weapon combat, if she was using her hands. The master of earth held one hand near the base of the weapon, and the other one near the blade. Kylie wrapped one hand around the center of the scythe and pretended to struggle in pulling it out. In reality, she wasn't even trying. She used a sweep kick, and Cole fell. Kylie didn't move her hand at all, and gained possession of the scythe. She threw it to Neuro who used the blunt edge to hit Gravis, and then threw it over to the side of the arena. Kylie ran over to Bolobo, to assist Turner in fighting the master of nature. She ran at Bolobo and tried to flip over him, but he caught her leg in a web of vines and tossed her back. Turner was running (but to him it was jogging) at Kylie, giving her an idea.

She held her hands out in front of her and yelled, "Jump!" The master of speed listened, and as he leapt into the air, Kylie took a few steps back. The second his feet hit her hands, she pushed them up. Turner figured out her plan, and kicked Bolobo, bouncing back off him, into the air, and then grabbing his shoulders, landing behind him, and threw Bolobo over him. The master of nature threw the Jade Blade to Jay, but Klara saw it coming.

"Secor," she said, preparing a spell. On the bottom of the arena, there was a picture of a serpent. The serpent came to life and bit down on the Jade Blade. Jay tried to grab it, but it refused to budge.

"Klara, get ready!" yelled Neuro, as he jumped off of Tyler's shoulders and turned jumped straight towards the snake, which was about twenty feet tall. Klara had a purple aura between her hands, and released it the second Neuro was even with the Jade Blade.

"I hate heights," Neuro muttered, as he grabbed the blade, and prepared to hit the ground, and get the Jade Blade onto the ground as well.

But Skylor had other plans. She used gravity, causing both the blade and the master of mind to fly back into the air. Neuro was trying not to freak out and not drop the blade.

Kylie started singing. It was quiet at first, but it grew louder. When Skylor heard it, she relaxed, and her eyelids got droopy. The master of amber actually fell asleep, and Neuro fell to the ground. Shade tackled Gravis to keep him from doing the same thing. Klara released a spell which slowed Neuro's fall. He hit the ground and set the Jade Blade down.

"We have our winner!" announced Chen, "And, a loser!" A trapdoor appeared below Bolobo, and he fell below the arena.

The red team began cheering as the green team picked themselves up. Kylie pulled out her baton, and healed the injuries. She also reluctantly healed the other team's injuries as well, although Cole refused.

"Camille, master of form, verses Lloyd, master of power; you have ten minutes to choose teams, beginning now!" said Chen. Lloyd and Camille walked into the arena and everyone began choosing teams. Immediately, Kylie and Camille grabbed purple (Camille was really glad to have the master of music on her side.) The ninja all grabbed green, which was brighter than Bolobo's so they had to grab new ones. For the next five minutes, they were convincing the other fighters to help them by telling them about Chen's plans.

After ten minutes, Lloyd's teammates were, Jay, Kai, Cole, Turner, Skylor, Jacob, Shade, and Gravis.

Camille's teammates were, Kylie, Neuro, Tyler, and Klara. The battle was over when the four ninja had surrounded Kylie, who had the Jade Blade. She was trying to hold them off as Neuro was running over, but she couldn't, and Camille lost.

"I don't feel like having another fight today, so we'll have two tomorrow. By the way, we had five people snooping around last night. We don't know who they were, so as a punishment, for the night, everyone will be sleeping in the chow house." Kylie looked up, and realized it was about seven at night. She couldn't believe that the fights had been all day. She looked to Jay, and knew that either her alliance, or his, would be missing a member tomorrow.

"One more day," said Jay to Kylie. "One more day!"

* * *

 **(A/N) Wow, that was a long wait for the chapter. I wanted to make that one longer to make up for the wait. Also, it will be a while before I can write again, for any of my stories, because I'm going on a vacation.**

 **Until next time,**

 **-Frostbite**


	8. The Thunderbladers

Chapter 8

The fighters, Klara, and Tyler had all eaten dinner in the chow house, and turned the room into a makeshift bedroom. It was uncomfortable, to say the least, but to Neuro, some other fighters were overreacting. Of course, he had grown accustomed to sleeping on anything from burning sand to gravel, so he didn't mind as much as other people. Klara had also been used to the strange sleeping conditions, so to her it was comfortable.

Kylie was surprised at how bad the ninja made it seem. Lloyd was acting like someone had lit his back on fire, and if Kylie was the master of fire, she would have been happy to do so. However, then she would be related to Kai, and that thought disgusted her.

One by one, all of the fighters fell asleep, until one thirty in the morning.

The sound of a loud gong filled the air. Kylie jumped up, ready for a fight, but decided to lay back down when Clouse walked in followed by several guards (her sixth sense had told her there wasn't a threat at the moment.)

"Good morning fighters," said Clouse. "Oh, that's right; it's the middle of the night."

One of the guards walked over to each fighter. Jay muttered something unintelligible when he felt something on his feet. Neuro sat up, swinging his feet over the edge of the 'bed' and looked down. There were two grey roller-skates on his feet. He had skated before, and had memorized techniques for skating well, but he had no idea why he was wearing them now, or even why he had been woken up this early.

"Tyler's eyes were half shut, and he actually fell back onto his bed a few times before getting the strength to try to stand up. Like Kylie and several others, he hadn't noticed the skates and fell onto the floor. His eyes dropped more and he fell forward; asleep again.

"I have an idea," said Skylor, "Sound!" A loud sound wave shook through the room as the people in the room covered their ears. Tyler jumped up, and groaned.

"I hate getting up early. Or getting up at all," he said, still fighting in a battle with his consciousness. Kylie had gotten off the ground, and was recalling the two times she had roller-skated before. She had ice skated many times, but to her, roller skating was very different. She brushed a few bangs out of her eyes and skated over to Neuro and Klara, who were trying to get Tyler fully awake.

"The next round of the tournament will begin, very shortly," said Clouse.

"Wait, but if most of us have already fought, why are we all in skates?" asked Turner.

"Only two of you will be fighting, but just like yesterday, the rest of you will be able to affect the outcome."

"Who…fighting'?" asked Tyler, nearly knocking over Kai, who really was horrible at skating, due to how tired he was.

"The master of lightning verses, the master of…" Clouse paused, as if deciding whether or not to say both of Kylie's elements. "Music and-"he stopped. Everyone looked confused at why he stopped. Neuro wasn't certain as to what Kylie's other element was (although he and most other fighters would say it was water) so he used his suggestion waves to make everyone forget about their suspicions, so no one remembered what Clouse had almost said.

The fighters all skated down a tunnel. Jay was amazing at skating, and made sure to push Kylie a few times. Kylie got hot very easily, so she was sweating. It was quite hot in the tunnel.

Jay, of course, misinterpreted this. "So, I guess you're nervous," he said smugly. "Can't take the heat? You know I'm going to win, you're not that stupid."

"Talk about cocky," Kylie muttered under her breath, but she kept skating.

"Jay," said Cole. "You can't get too cocky. That's Kylie's plan. She wants you to get arrogant enough to make stupid mistakes. I don't know how she knows this, but you do. You need to focus."

"You're right for once Cole," said Jay. "Thanks for the advice."

"Too late Cole," said Neuro. "I already know Jay's strategy won't work."

"Yeah," finished Klara. "Crossing your fingers and hoping for good luck is never going to work."

Jay glared, but couldn't think of a clever comeback, which surprised Kylie. The elemental masters reached their destination. The ground sloped upwards, and the fighters all skated into a large track. There was a large scoreboard over one end with Kylie written on one side, Jay on the other, and fifteen minutes on the clock. Chen went towards them, half skating, and half walking.

"Welcome to one of my favorite events," he said, "Thunder blade!"

"Hey I know this game. It's just like-"Turner was cut off by Chen.

"No, it's not like that. This is my game; I made it up; fully original! A Jade Blade for you Jay, master of lightning." He tossed a blue helmet and a Jade Blade with a blue string attached to the handle to the blue ninja. "And another for you Kylie, master of…music!" He said tossing a white helmet and a Jade Blade with a white string to her. Kylie straightened her gi and prepared for her fight.

"The rules are simple," said Chen. "Every lap you complete holding your Jade Blade, you get a point. The person with the most points before time runs out wins! Any questions?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Gravis. "What about the rest of us?"

"You are free to choose sides. Grab a helmet that matches the fighter you wish to help."

The teams were exactly what Tyler expected. The ninja had been trying to persuade the other people in the bracket to form an alliance with them. The only two people they hadn't convinced in the bracket were Neuro and Kylie. Therefore, the only people on Kylie's team so far were Neuro and Klara.

Tyler really didn't like Kylie. She was annoying, and always thought she was better than the ninja. She was a complete idiot, and was very happy go lucky.

However, Jay and Cole were worse. Of all the fighters, Tyler hated Cole the most. He hated the way Cole thought that because he was the leader, he was more mature than the others. He always told the others what to do and sometimes even thought that he could boss around Tyler and other fighters. He told Neuro to stop hanging out with Kylie because he looked like he was in love; which Neuro responded to by knocking the air out of the earth ninja. Tyler also hated how he and Jay fought all the time, so he decided to join, sadly, Kylie's team.

"So, what if there's a tie?" asked Jay.

"Whoever gets to the line first wins if there is a tie," answered Chen. "Thunder bladers on you mark, get set, good luck to everyone, go!"

A horn blew as Jay and Kylie took off.

"Come catch me Kylie, you're too slow," taunted Jay as he skated ahead.

"It's called pity, Zippy. Unfortunately, I don't have much of it," said Kylie, keeping her balance on the railing on the inside of the track. She turned around as she past Jay.

Another horn blew, signaling the start for the other fighters. Tyler instantly teleported next to Kylie as she finished her first lap, holding her Jade Blade up and skated at the same pace she was going. Jay was a few seconds behind her. Cole and Lloyd were near him, pushing Klara and Neuro out of the way. The siblings got up, and skated in front of the three ninja, slowing them down. The two of them worked well as a team, and became a major obstacle for Jay, but he eventually passed them.

"Allegro!" shouted Kylie. (Allegro means fast in music.) The aura hit Tyler and her as they sped up. Tyler was shoving people out of the way. He was still half asleep, and when he pushed Skylor and Shade, the three of them all fell to the ground.

"Let's even the playing field," said Chen, who was on his throne again. He pressed two buttons, and two pieces of the platform rose out of the ground. Kylie used one of them to jump, netting a boost in speed, and Jay caught up to her, grabbing onto Turner. Kylie almost swore, but regained focus and increased her speed as well.

There were ten minutes left, the score being seven to eight in Jay's favor. Kylie had gotten a clarinet, a wind instrument. When she played it loud enough, a gust of wind blew Jay back and her forward, allowing her to tie up the score. Neuro was about twenty five yards behind her, keeping Lloyd and Gravis from catching Kylie. Turner was no longer with Jay as he skated up behind Neuro, grabbing the master of the mind. Neuro struggled to wiggle out, but couldn't as Turner turned to Lloyd.

"Check this out," he said to the master of shadow.

"Alright," he answered. Turner sped up dragging Neuro all the way around the track before pushing him into Kylie. Neuro saw it coming before it happened and thought back to what he had learned about speed. He shifted his weight to his left foot, and narrowly missed Kylie, grabbing her arm and whipping her forward.

"Thanks!" called out the master of music, speeding forward. Neuro smirked as Turner groaned and they both sped up to keep going.

Five minutes left, score fourteen to fourteen; Jay and Kylie were tied as the two of them fought to get to the inside of the track. Jay had passed her slightly, and Kylie was having trouble keeping up. The two elemental masters were using their Jade Blades as swords, and were fighting each other. Jay swung his blade, and Kylie caught it, and small cuts formed on her fingers.

"You seriously have got to stop doing that," said Neuro, skating up next to her.

"Whatever, I'm fine," said Kylie, slowing down temporarily to mess up Jay's balance. "Besides, what would you do?"

"This," Neuro said, skating on the other side of Jay. When the lightning ninja swung at him, he kicked Jay's wrist, causing him to yelp and the master of mind grabbed his Jade Blade.

"Good thinking," said Klara, as she and Tyler joined the others. The four members of the white team skated in a line, the first blocking out the wind for the other three, and allowing the team to go faster.

There were three minutes left, and the score was fourteen points for Jay, and sixteen for Kylie. Cole skated up out of nowhere, and knocked Neuro into the wall, stealing Jay's blade back. The master of lightning was driving a buggy that Chen had released earlier, and soon enough, the score was tied. Tyler tried to stop the buggy, but Skylor passed him, and pulled on his necklace, dragging him away from Jay. Tyler seemed to be more worried about his necklace than stopping Jay, so he pulled back and stopped skating to fight Skylor.

Jay caught up to Kylie, still in the buggy and still holding his Jade Blade. They both crossed the line each bringing their total score to seventeen. Jay looked at Kylie and held out his hand.

"We don't have to keep fighting. If we work together, we can stop Chen. He's the enemy, and we need a team to stop him. We can all win."

"Sure we can," said Kylie.

"I'm serious!" said Jay. Kylie rolled her eyes, and then grabbed Jay's outstretched hand, and pulled him out of the buggy. "Well," said the master of lightning, "Cole sure was right when he said you had trust issues."

"Of course I do!" said Kylie.

"And why's that?" asked Jay in a mocking tone. Kylie didn't want to tell him it was Cole, who had told her he was sorry about making her life horrible, before trying to kill her.

Kylie smirked. "Haven't you ever seen the oatmeal raisin cookies that look like they're chocolate chip?" Jay laughed, and Kylie used that to her advantage, pushing him back and skating forward. Unfortunately, Lloyd was right in front of her, and he pushed her, and she fell to the ground. She had popped right back up, and looked at the clock. There were twenty two seconds left, and they each had eighteen points. Jay was right in front of her as they crossed the line.

"No," Kylie whispered, as she realized that Jay had just beaten her. On average, each of her laps had taken forty five seconds, so there was no way she could do another one.

Neuro was right next to her. "Keep going," he said. "Keep going for your brother." Kylie tightened her grip on her Jade Blade, and went faster then she had gone at all. Neuro grabbed her hand and whipped her forward, giving her a boost in speed.

Jay realized what was going on, but Klara used a spell, causing a dark purple cloud to surround the master of lightning. He tried to move forward, but couldn't. He struggled, but it was no use.

Kylie was about a third of the way around the track, with fifteen seconds left. Cole watched Kylie carefully, before sending earth at her skates. They wedged into the gaps between the wheels of them, stopping them from moving. Chen was watching this all, very interested. He was randomly pushing buttons, adding everything from punching bags to party music into the track.

Suddenly, the ground was coated with a thin layer of ice.

"That isn't fair!" said Lloyd, but only loud enough for the other ninja to hear. "He's using his staff." Indeed, Chen had brought his staff with him, but he hadn't used it, supposedly until now.

Kylie smirked. With stuck wheels, her skates were more like ice skates. "This is great!" she said, skating forward, much faster than any of the fighters (besides Turner and sometimes Skylor) but there were ten seconds left, and she was only halfway. Tyler teleported next to her, and gave the master of music a grim smile. He had figured out how to keep his balance on ice, and he gave her a grim smile.

"Any ideas?" he asked.

"Maybe; can you teleport other things as well?"

"Yes, but not as far, and I can't teleport other humans."

"I'm not a normal human, I'm an elemental master!" said Kylie.

"I've tried before, but I can't even teleport elemental master humans."

"Maybe you've gotten stronger; can you at least try?"

Tyler nodded, and grabbed Kylie's arm. He shut his eyes, and soon, a weird feeling came over Kylie, as if she was flying and running at the same time. She appeared right in front of the finish line, and with half of a second left, she crossed it.

"Yes!" shouted Tyler and Klara at the same time.

"Well done," said Neuro, skating over to Kylie. "That was amazing KJ!"

"That isn't fair!" shouted Kai. "You cheated!"

"Do you have any proof that it was me, and not someone else?" asked Chen, as he and Skylor shot a glance at Tyler.

Kai didn't answer, and a trapdoor appeared under his teammate.

"It turns out I counted wrong," said Chen. "We will have two more fights this afternoon, but you should go get some sleep. You are able to have your rooms back now!"

The remaining fighters took off their skates and helmets, and went back to their rooms.

"Hey KJ!" said Neuro. When the master of music turned to face him, he added, "Later I need to tell you something. I think there's a spy in the tournament."

"Really?" she asked.

"How else would Chen know to put you and Jay against each other? He must have known both of you had formed alliances. There's probably a spy in the tournament, KJ. And I think I know who it is."

* * *

 **(A/N) I'm back with another chapter! Sadly, I'm going on another vacation, but it will be longer. However, there is a slight chance I can update once or twice on my vacation, but no promises. Please review, and I will probably write faster. :) Also, I'd like a review especially from Darkrainbow (guest) and StoryWriter2003 to tell me if I'm doing well with your OC's. I want to thank everyone for reading and reviewing.**

 **Until next time,**

 **-Frostbite**


	9. The Clue

Chapter 9

Kylie woke up around eight. She decided to go eat breakfast in the chow house instead of making it herself. She pulled a red shirt with music notes on and black gym shorts. 'Boy shorts' as one of her friends from Ninjago would call them.

When she got her breakfast, she sat down with Klara, Neuro, and a half-asleep Tyler. They were about half-way through breakfast when the Chen came in.

"It is time for the last two fights!" he said. "I hope the fight early this morning was enough to have you ready for these next two. Will Skylor and Jacob follow the kabuki in red to their arena, while Cole and Gravis follow the one in blue? The rest of you can decide which one to watch. The other ninja went to go watch Cole, along with a couple other fighters, while the others went to watch Skylor and Jacob fight.

About half way through the fight Klara was watching, Cole must have won, because he Lloyd and Kai were making their way to sit down on the benches overlooking the other arena. The sorceress noted that Kai was tripping over everyone's feet, so she slipped them back so he could get by.

Jacob was being crushed by Skylor. It was a definite advantage for one to have all the elements, or all but one. Neuro made sure to avoid Skylor, and keep the 'power hoarder' from getting his power. The master of amber was shooting vines, rock, and toxin at the blind man, and had used sound against him to silence her footsteps. She lit his instrument (Neuro wasn't sure what it was) on fire, and he could no longer use it to find Skylor's location. She walked behind him, and broke a vase nearby, causing the Jade Blade to be seen. She picked it up, securing her victory, and sealed the final eight members of the next round: Turner, Shade, Skylor, Cole, Kai, Lloyd, Kylie, and Neuro.

Later, Neuro and Kylie were sitting at desk in his suite. The letter inviting them to the tournament was sitting on the desk. Kylie quickly reread it.

 _Kylie,_

 _Your brother is alive, but unless both of you come and compete in Master Chen's Tournament of_

 _Elements, you'll never see him again._

 _Neuro, you're not a bad person, are you?_

 _Obviously, you wouldn't keep a person from seeing her brother again._

 _right?_

 _So, if you accept, meet at the pier at midnight. You'll be staying for several days so bring a bag for clothes._

 _Let me warn you. Everyone at the tournament will have something they're fighting for._

 _Hopefully, we'll see you there. From,_

 _Chen's faithful servant, but my name doesn't matter._

"So what?" asked Kylie, crossing her arms and looking at Neuro.

"Do you notice anything strange about the spacing?" he asked.

Kylie looked at it, and noticed that new 'paragraphs' (only one or two lines long) were started randomly.

"The spacing is random and inconsistent," she said finally.

"Exactly," said Neuro. He found another sheet of paper, and wrote the letters starting each paragraph at the top. They were: _K, Y, E, N, O, R, S, L, H,_ and _C._

"So like, if you rearranged the letters, would there be another word?" asked the master of music.

"That's what I discovered," he answered. Kylie smiled. Her brother had done that to help save a man's business, but she wasn't good at that. She took the pencil and the paper and wrote the words she found:

No

On

Yen (Japanese currency)

Ho

Hoe

Sky

Or

Hen

"I give up!" she said, throwing the pencil on the desk. She looked at Neuro, who was too distracted by the clay he was sculpting to notice her outburst. "What can you see, that I clearly cannot?"

Neuro looked up, and looked at her list. "The last three words are close. Say them out loud. Make them two words and add the other two letters.

"Sky or hen… sky or hen…sky or hen…" Kylie said, confused. "I don't know Neuro, what is it.

"Sky or hen," he said. "It becomes Skylor Chen. I think she was being arrogant and wrote it with a hint at who she was."

"Wow," said Kylie. "That's strange. So that must mean Chen is her father and Tyler is her sister. Maybe he has Amber as well."

"Maybe," said Neuro. They talked and joked for about another hour before Kylie left.

Neuro left his suite and walked outside. He went over to a large rock and climbed to the top of it. Sitting cross legged, he put his hands on his knees, meditating.

The master of mind had about two minutes of peace before his sister snapped him out of focus. EH nearly fell off of the rock before turning to look at his sister.

"What do you want, Psycho?" he asked, annoyed.

"Nice nickname; where'd you get that from?" she asked.

"I heard Turner use it, and I guess it just stuck."

"I knew you weren't one for originality."

"I have a couple other words in mind," he said flatly. "Anyway, what do you want?"

"I can't tell you out here."

When he asked why not, she paused. "It's a… family obligation."

Neuro paled and slowly slid off of the rock. The two of them went to Klara's suite, where she shut and locked her door, telling a nearby kabuki not to let anyone into her suite until Neuro left.

"Father says you need to get a tattoo," she said. The master of mind paled again, and shook his head.

"I have no interest of going through that process."

"Then go through half the process," she said. "You already have half of one. On the left side of your back, right at the bottom of your rib cage there's a serpentine head." The sorceress tapped the tattoo on her brother. He took a step backwards.

"What's happened to you Klara? You were the one that got me off the island in the first place. Why are you helping them?"

"I was wrong before," she said, looking at the floor. "Chen's right. You should win at all costs. Only one can remain, Neuro, and at the end it will be Chen and his cult. You should join us. It's the right path."

"It is not! This isn't you, Klara!"

"I'm sorry, Neuro, but we have to do this. This is the real me. I am part of the Anacondrai Cult, and I'm proud to be part of this."

"Well then, that is you, but this is me. I will keep fighting for the light, and I will not hesitate to do the right thing." Neuro pushed past his sister and out of the suite.

"Well, I'll just have to tell father," she said when he was gone. "It will be a shame that his son is not on his side."

* * *

 **(A/N) I'm finally back. School is starting soon for me, so updates might be slower, but I'll try to keep going. Please review; it makes me write faster. Sorry if this chapter wasn't as great as the others. It's almost eleven, and I get tired early.**

 **Until next time,**

 **-Frostbite**


	10. The Fool

Chapter 10

I was just double-checking the brackets when I saw Neuro leaving Klara's suite. He looked… angry. I'd only known him for about a week, but I didn't remember him ever being mad. Neuro walked down the stairs of the palace, and out the door. I knew I shouldn't, but I wondered what he was doing, so I followed him.

He was sitting on a rock about seven feet tall, and he was meditating. I shrugged, and turned to go back inside, but then I saw the ninja talking.

"What do you think Chen wants?" asked Lloyd.

"I'm not really sure, Lloyd, but whatever it is, know that Jay's gone, we need to find him and Zane and stop Chen. Jay's loss makes our situation much more serious," said Cole. I snorted. How did Jay make things more serious, if he never was serious?

"Yeah, but I don't think we can do this alone. We need help," Lloyd said.

Kai gasped. He must have figured something out. "I know just the person who can help," he told the others. "But I think he already knows."

The ninja walked over to the rock where Neuro was sitting. "We need your help, Neuro," Lloyd told him,

"You think I can get close to Chen, so I can read his mind, so you can find your robotic friend, Jay, and leave the island for good," he said, never looking at them, and never breaking concentration.

"Hey!" said Kai. "We also need to know-"

"What Chen's up to," finished Neuro.

"That's actually pretty impressive, Nerd-o," said Cole. I had a feeling Neuro was trying his hardest not to snap at them.

"It's Neuro, master of the mind, and why should I help you? You're competition. The sooner you're out, the better for me," he said, standing and jumping off of the rock. 'Too late,' I thought. 'He snapped.'

"Better for you?" Lloyd exclaimed. "Look into my mind and see what this tournament is really about."

"Why?" asked the master of the mind. "It would only be repetitive."

"You know Chen's hiding something?"

"Of course I do! Do you take me for a fool?" He really was mad now.

"Well…" said Cole. Neuro sighed and looked at Lloyd.

"I am already trying to find out what is going on. But I'm helping someone else. I'm certain our alliance is stronger, and you still are competition."

"You may have a bigger alliance, with you sister and Tyler, but it isn't about numbers," Lloyd told him. "We're brothers, which makes us stronger. This is about family!"

By now, I had walked over to where they were. "No Lloyd. Logically, we have a bigger alliance. It is not about family."

Neuro looked up. "You are right Lloyd," he said. "It is about family. KJ, I'm on your side, but you should all know that this is about family. But there's more to it than any of you would know."

We watched as the master of mind walked off, into the palace. He probably went into his suite to get some peace and quiet. I decided to do a little investigating. I wasn't sure where to go, but eventually I decided to go to Chen's quarters, wherever that was.

I couldn't find his quarters, but I did find the place where the kabuki where putting on their make-up. I really hated the 'paints' they seemed to be using (along with anything else along the lines of fashion) but at least I didn't have to disguise myself as a kabuki.

I didn't get any information that was helpful for the first hour or so. Chen was again, on his throne, while I just sat on one of the rafters of the ceiling, and waited for something interesting.

Suddenly, the door opened, and shut. I turned to see who had entered or left, and I saw Neuro. My eyes widened.

"I was told you wanted to see me," he told Clouse, who had been there for the last ten minutes.

"Yes. I saw you conversing with the ninja earlier. It would be a shame if Chen were to find out that you're helping them…"

"I see nothing wrong with helping them… for now," said Neuro. He was speaking boldly, but he was as white as a sheet.

"You are betraying your father helping them!" said Clouse. Neuro glared.

"My father is a fool," he said. "And I'm not helping them for long. I grew up learning to win at all costs. I'm going to pretend to stay their ally, but this is what I'm willing to do to win."

I smirked. There was no way Clouse would buy that. Neuro was usually a quick talker, but he slowed down right now. He also was switching his eye contact between Clouse and the door every few seconds. When people lie, they often look towards the nearest exit, mentally wishing to escape. However, he was hiding his biggest tell (what people do when they lie as a fibbing habit.) When Neuro lied, he would usually bit the inside of his cheek when he was not speaking, but I didn't think he was. Still, Clouse would've had to have been a fool to believe his statement. I may have been sitting directly above them, but I was watching from only three feet behind Clouse.

"Ah… yes. Of course you are. You may go, Neuro." I watched as the master of the mind turned to leave.

"But Neuro, if you are helping the ninja, you are the fool. You should know is you are trying to stop Chen, you are wasting your time," said the sorcerer.

"Of course, Clouse," said Neuro. "I'm the master of the mind. I'm smarter than that." The blue and green waves shot out of his head again for effect. Then he looked up and saw me. Before Clouse noticed what he was looking at, I was gone.

I met up with him an hour later. I didn't ask about the conversation he had with the sorcerer, but I did ask him if he found anything else out. The ninja where there too, and he told us all.

"I'm not sure where your friend is, but I do know he's trying to get all of the elements for a spell in Clouse's spell book. It's on page 149."

The ninja thanked him and left. When it was just the two of us, he told me. "KJ, I looked into Clouse's mind for a split second."

"And what did you find?" I asked.

He took a deep breath and said, "I think I know where your brother is."

* * *

 **(A/N) And there's another chapter. I am on a roll. I love all of the reviews. Could I maybe get a review telling me what genre this should go under, because right now it just is general. So thanks for the reviews, and the next chapter should come up soon.**

 **Until next time,**

 **-Frostbite**


	11. The Blimp

Chapter 11

The next day, the fighters were told that the round for the final eight would begin at three in the afternoon, but they'd have to meet at the main palace doors at one thirty. It was eight in the morning, so the two of them decided to go look for Kylie's brother. They didn't tell Tyler or Klara where the two of them were going because they figured it would be best if just the two of them went.

"So, you saw me when you were speaking to Clouse?" Kylie asked, breaking the silence. That made Neuro slightly nervous, but he composed himself.

"Yes, you were hanging onto the rafters and if any of the kabuki had glanced up, you would have been spotted. Of course I saw you."

"So how did you know that Clouse needed to speak to you?" asked Kylie.

"Um… he must have told Klara because she was the one that told me." The two of them walked through the tunnels, Kylie following a few feet behind him.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" asked Kylie for the twelfth time.

Neuro sighed and turned around. "I know, just trust me." The two of them passed cell after cell until they heard voices.

"Ugh! When I get out of here and get my lightning back, you are so dead!" yelled the unmistakable voice of Jay. That must be the factory, where the losers are being forced to work," said Neuro.

"How do you know?" asked Kylie.

"Weren't you listening while we were spying?" he asked.

"Oh… I guess not," she said.

The two of them kept walking. "Wait, how do you know that my brother isn't in the factory?" asked Kylie.

"Because I read Clouse's mind, and he isn't. They know your brother can fight, and they don't trust him anywhere besides his cell." Kylie nodded as they continued running.

Suddenly Neuro stopped. Slowly, he walked over to the nearest cell, and opened the door. Both of them were surprised at what they saw.

The cell was empty.

There were broken chains on the wall, and pieces of metal on the ground.

"He… must have escaped recently," said Neuro. Seeing Kylie's distressed look, he added, "You should be happy he got out, KJ, that means that he's able to escape!" Kylie nodded, and they turned to leave. But before they did, Kylie pulled out a dagger and carved the symbol of her family into the wall. She wrote K. R. J. underneath it, as a sign that she had carved it.

Neuro, however, didn't know what the letters stood for, so he just shrugged it off, the two of them were startled when yells of guards were heard.

"Hey, there's the metal man! Get him!" they elemental masters turned their heads as Clouse and a few guards ran through the tunnels. There was a strange object in Clouse's hands, but Neuro wasn't sure what its purpose was.

"Who's the metal man?" asked Kylie.

"Probably the ninjas' teammate," Neuro guessed.

"That makes sense. With the thing Clouse was holding, it could knock a nindroid unconscious for about twelve hours," said the master of music.

"Do you think we should help him?" Kylie nodded and the two of them ran off after the guards.

They ducked behind a rock to keep from being spotted. Neither of them could see the 'metal man', but guards were falling quickly, and not always getting back up. However, there were too many guards, and if Clouse hit him once, he'd be doomed for sure.

Kylie jumped out from behind the rock, and went into a flurry of attacks. None of the guards recognized her, and neither did Clouse as she broke his strange weapon.

The metal man didn't see Kylie either, but turned and ran the second the attacks stopped. No one saw him leave, and he wouldn't have known he had help if he hadn't sensed it.

"Run," Kylie muttered to Neuro as the two of them took off the way they had come. Neuro found shortcuts through the labyrinth. When they reached the cell of Kylie's brother, he still wasn't there, but the symbol Kylie had sketched was repeated one foot below it, with three letters below it. The first two were different, but the last one was the same.

"He knows you've been here," said Neuro. "I believe you'll find him. But we have to go. We wouldn't want to be late for the next round."

Outside of the tunnels, the fighters were both surprised by the bright lights. They were the last to get to the meeting point, just outside the palace, besides the ninja.

"You're cutting it close," Tyler, crossing his arms. "It's one twenty seven."

"Yeah, but the ninja are cutting it closer," Kylie argued. The ninja were thirty minutes late, and no one was happy when they finally arrived. There was a kabuki nearby, who told them to get onto a strange looking blimp (or at least that's how Kai would have described it.)

Neuro didn't like the fact that Garmadon was on the blimp, or even on the island. Of course he had bigger things to be worried by, most notably, the fact that they were thousands of feet in the air. Neuro was trying not to think about the idea of the bottom of the blimp dropping out for under them and not having a parachute as he fell to the ground. The thought was ridiculous, but the master of the mind was still terrified of the idea of that happening.

"Why is this event running late?" asked Kai, completely annoyed.

"Maybe if you were here sooner, we'd be going already," Tyler muttered under his breath, but the fire ninja didn't hear it.

"I'm going to tell Chen that I'm done being in this stupid blimp!" Kai said, walking toward the cockpit. Neuro silently agreed. When Kai opened the door of the cockpit, the seat was empty. The blimp was flying itself. Just thinking about it made Neuro want to puke.

Suddenly a camera came to life. Chen was standing there.

"Is this thing on? Oh… I see a light. Oh there you are!" he said. "I guess you are all anxious for the next round. Anyway, we have an uninvited guest on the island."

The camera switched to a girl Kylie recognized as Kai's sister, Nya. She was wearing samurai armor, and was in the forest.

"If you find and capture her," Chen continued. Kai muttered something about how she had the spell and then Lloyd said they'd have to find her first. "You'll automatically move onto the final round! Also if Tyler or Klara finds her, the tournament will continue normally. Now, in ten seconds, the bottom will drop."

Neuro was really close to puking now. "But to show you I'm a good man, I've given you ten parachutes. Then yellow boxes slipped down, and the fighters jumped onto the seats to grab them.

"Sensei Garmadon is on board? Shoot that makes eleven. Oh well, I was never good at math. Bye!" And with Chen's final word, the floor of the blimp gave out, and the fighters, and the parachutes, all went tumbling out the blimp.

It became a mad dash to grab a parachute for all the fighters, plus Garmadon, Klara, and Tyler. Shade was the first to reach one, pushing Lloyd out of the way, and pulling the cord, opening it.

Kai grabbed two, tossing one to Skylor, and the two of them relaxed, now safe. Tyler fought over one with Cole. He let go of it, and while Cole was trying to figure it out, thinking he won their battle, his grip loosened. Tyler used that to his advantage, and the redhead had successfully yanked it out of his hands. He gasped when he saw Klara unconsciously falling (he assumed one of the ninja had done it to get a parachute) so he leaned forward, gliding towards the sorceress, and put the parachute around her shoulders, pulling the cord, and smiling before turning around in desperation for a parachute. Turner had also grabbed one, leaving five left, and six people.

The redhead was below all the parachutes, and wasn't sure how to reach them. "Hey Tyler!" yelled Kylie.

"Yeah, KJ?" he asked.

"The chutes have already reached terminal velocity, meaning they've slightly slowed down. The more horizontal your body is, the slower you'll fall!"

"Thanks!" yelled Tyler, moving horizontally. He was surprised at the sudden change in speed, but angled his body slightly diagonally, to glide forward and retrieve a parachute. He slid the straps on, and yanked the black cord, opening his parachute.

Cole looked around, surveying the scene. Kai was the only ninja with a parachute, so that left him, Lloyd, Garmadon, Neuro, and Kylie, as well as four parachutes. He was too busy looking around, that he didn't notice to one falling towards him until it hit his back. He tried to flip over and catch it, but he accidentally pushed it lower, and out of reach. Fortunately, it flew near Garmadon, so his sensei was safe.

Kylie was getting desperate. She was angry. Lloyd should have been trying to use his dragon, but instead he had just taken a parachute. Luckily, Neuro had grabbed one, and opened it. Kylie called for a clarinet and used it to push her back up a little bit, to grab the last parachute; right from out of Cole's hands.

"Yes!" she whispered, putting it onto her back, and placing her hand on the cord. But she didn't pull it.

'If I let Cole die,' she thought, 'I'm basically killing him. He may have tried to do that, years ago, but I can't just take his life.' Sighing, she glided over to Cole, and pushed it into his hands roughly.

"You owe me, big time," she muttered, and released her grip on it. Cole looked surprised, but still angry at her. Kylie didn't know why, but she didn't care anymore.

As she fell, she grabbed onto Neuro. "Please," she told him. "Find my brother. You can probably read minds and figure out who he is.

"KJ… you can't do this," he told her. Both of them had tears in their eyes as they looked at each other. "We can figure something else out."

"No, there isn't enough time," she said.

"But KJ- Kylie, your brother needs you. If we're going to stop Chen, we need you. Kylie I… I need you. You're a great friend, and you don't owe Cole anything. You don't deserve to die."

Hearing Neuro say that made Kylie feel worse, but better. She knew that someone besides her brother would miss her, and she smiled, happy that Neuro cared about her. The two fighters were only hanging onto each other's hands at the time, but she pushed forward a little big and embraced him. He quickly followed, and when they parted, they were both smiling through tears.

"Do me a favor, and don't just remember me as KJ," she told him.

He nodded, "By the way, what is your middle name?"

"Rachel," said Kylie, smirking. "KJ refers to my first and last name. It's Kylie Rachel Julien." She then let go of Neuro and fell to the ground, allowing her eyes to slid shut.

She was about one thousand feet from the ground when her eyes popped open. She knew how to survive the fall. She would the same way her brother and Jay had escaped the Great Devourer.

Kylie had always had a second element. It was weak, because sometimes it wouldn't even work for her, but she had to take a risk. And her sixth sense told her it would work this time.

She put her hands in front of her, and watched as a very light blue aura began to form on her fingertips. Taking a deep breath, she yelled, "Ice!"

* * *

 **(A/N) So... now it should be obvious who Kylie's brother is! I'd like to congratulate TheyAllStartOutOrdinary for guessing who it was. (If someone else had that idea, sorry, but TheyAllStartOutOrdinary was the only one that wrote it in the review.) Nice Job! Please review, because it makes me write faster.**

 **Until next time,**

 **-Frostbite**


	12. The Memories

Chapter 12

 _The first thing I saw was a man. He looked down at me smiling. Immediately, data poured into my mind. I didn't know it then, but my database was still loading. I learned about the sky, the earth, animals, math, and physics. But I felt something was missing._

" _What am I?" My database was learning how to speak, and I knew there were other languages, but I only knew one. I didn't know what I was, or where I was._

" _You are my daughter," he told me. The word father registered in my mind, and I was unsure what was going on._

" _But I have no mother. How can I be your daughter? You are human, and I am a robot. We are not related."_

" _I made you, and you are more than just a robot. You were built to prove to the world that the idea of artificial intelligence could learn to think and feel for yourself."_

" _I have no feelings. I am not human."_

" _You will learn to feel."_

" _Robots cannot learn. A robot can only do what it is programmed to do."_

" _You are not just a robot. You are my daughter; you may be a robot, but you are still both." I decided not to bother pushing it any further, so I tried to stand, but I couldn't. I blinked. I knew what standing was, and how the muscles should be moved to do so, but something was not working._

" _What is happening?" I asked the man. "I know what standing is, and how to do it, but I cannot stand."_

" _You have knowledge, but you lack connections. You need to learn how the knowledge links together to other bits of information, and to you."_

 _When I asked him how to connect it, he told me I would in time. My 'father' pulled me up, so I was sitting on a chair. He looked at me and told me that the best way to figure out how to make connections was with doing simple things._

" _You know what the English alphabet is, right?" he asked._

" _Futhorc influenced the emerging_ _English alphabet_ _by providing it with the_ _letters_ _thorn and wynn. The letter eth was later_ _devised_ _as a modification of dee, and finally yogh was_ _created_ _by Norman scribes from the insular g in Old_ _English_ _and Irish, and used alongside their Carolingian g."_

' _Father' paused for a moment, and then he nodded. He pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil, and put them on the desk that the chair faced. He told me to write the modern English alphabet on the top line of the paper._

 _The same problem I had trying to stand up occurred. My arms wouldn't move. They were still pinned to my sides. 'Father' pulled his chair next to me, and looked at me."_

" _What is the first thing you need to do?"_

" _Raise my arm to the level of the desk."_

" _And how would that theoretically be done?"_

" _By moving my arm up," I told him. Something clicked inside me, and my arm moved. No, scratch that, I moved my arm? I smiled, and I moved my arm back and forth several times, enjoying the feeling._

 _Then I went back to focusing. The next thing I'd have to do would be to open my hand. I connected what that was, and how to do it, and tried to force my hand apart, but it failed. I was about to ask my 'father' for help, but I decided to try this on my own._

' _Maybe I have to try the opposite,' I thought. 'And I have to relax my hand.' Slowly, I relaxed my hand, and my fingers slid apart._

 _In the next few minutes, I had learned how to grab a pencil, pick it up, placing it on paper, holding the paper still with my other hand, how to keep from ripping a hole in the paper, and write the letters. When I finished, twenty-six letters were written neatly at the top of the paper._

 _For the first year of my life, my father wanted me to connect my information. I would figure out relations to different things. Like by connecting what a tree was, and what it was called, I learned more. But all that time, I had no idea that I was also learning how to learn._

 _I had asked my 'father' how I already knew how to talk when I was first made, and he said it was one of the things he had programmed me to do. The things I was not already programmed to do, I'd have to figure out by myself._

 _When I was one year and twenty-three days old, my' father' had told me he was going to go to a junkyard on the outskirts of Ninjago City to some scrap metal. When I asked why he needed scrap metal, he said he was going to build another robot._

 _While he was gone, I was looking around my home. I was walking around in my home's basement. My house actually had three floors (including the basement) but they were nearly impossible to find. To get to the basement, a person would actually have to move one of the loose floorboards, which would open up a staircase inside a closet. I was unsure why my 'father' had built the house like this._

 _Downstairs I found his bedroom. It was in the basement, and the door was almost always shut. Today, he must have been in a hurry to leave, because I noticed that his door was open. He had told me not to ever go in there, and I was about to pass by it but then I noticed that there was a book on his bed._

 _I had read nearly every book in the house. Well, all the nonfiction ones. I had no interest in anything that wasn't true. My father had promised to get me more books on his way back from the junkyard he was visiting, but I had wanted something to read right then._

 _I slowly walked into his room. There was a stand on the far side with a blueprint sitting on it. It was probably the robot he was going to build, and I took a look at it, even though I knew I shouldn't. The robot would be about twenty five feet tall, and all bronze. It would have a goldish tint to it, bright blue eyes, with a cannon on either shoulder. I marveled at its interesting design, and then looked at the book lying on his bed._

 _When I looked at the cover, I discovered it was a journal. His journal; I knew I shouldn't have read it, but I did._

 _I flipped it open to the most recent page, which he had added last night. I read the entry._

" _Today, Kylie was climbing trees. I'm proud of her, for learning that, as well as everything else, but I just don't think she understands that I am. I think that I failed. She has no emotion, and no personality whatsoever. I don't know how to give her one; she needs to figure that out for herself. However, I will not give up on her. She is still my daughter, although she still doesn't recognize me as her father, and I will treat her as one."_

 _My eyes widened when I read that. I didn't know that he thought he had failed with me. I didn't know what to get a personality, but I knew that I'd have to try._

 _I decided to try reading a fiction book. I pulled one off of a shelf at random. I looked at the title, 'The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins.' I decided that it was worth a try. I went back upstairs and took a seat on a large chair, and started reading it._

 _I thought it was dull at first, and I wanted to stop reading. But then I realized that I was learning more than I had while reading nonfiction. I realized that all the characters were people, and they lived fictional lives. By the time I reached page one hundred, my father had gotten back. He had three books and a large sack of metal with him. When he saw me reading a fictional book, he was surprised. I smiled at him, and told him that I thought I should try something new._

 _A week later, he said he had to go to Ignacia for food, and I asked him if I could go with him. To my surprise, he said yes._

 _Ignacia was beautiful. All of the markets and shopped provided wonderful sights and smells that filled the air; and my father (I now recognized him as my father) had to remind me to hurry up. I begged him to let me look around some more, because the farthest away from home I had ever been was the Birchwood Forest. He agreed, but insisted that I told no one that I was not human, or that I wasn't even two years old._

 _I wandered through the streets. (He had told me to meet him outside of 'The Four Weapons' blacksmith shop after four hours. I guessed that he was meeting with a friend or something. Everything was so pretty. There were flowers and jewelry being sold at one shop, and the owner gave me a white flower that I put in my hair. The people there were so nice, and all smiled with each other and laughed. If they were just two strangers meeting, they talking like two old friends. I walked over to a place where people were sitting on benches looking at a strange looking stage. I sat down on a bench and waited, wondering what everyone was doing._

 _After a few minutes, music began playing, and people with masks and strange clothes walked onto the stage. I realized that this was a play, and that explained why everyone was so excited._

 _It turned out to be very interesting, about a girl who wanted to serve in her countries army, but couldn't because she was a girl, so she pretended to be a boy. She became one of the best fighters, and halfway through the play, I was certain she would end up saving the day and they'd all live happily ever after. However, I was wrong. The girl was trying to warn the army about the attacking enemy, but her voice rose in pitch, and they realized she was a girl, and killed her for treason. The enemy attacked, but they weren't prepared. The few soldiers that survived mourned for her, and remembered her as 'the manliest girl to ever live.' I wanted to cry at the end, but felt like that would make me look like a baby. I looked around, and the people next to me were crying as well. I stood up and left._

 _As I continued walking around, I began to realize how I was forming opinions about things, like how I loved the smell of flowers at a gardener's shop, but disliked the spicy pepper the owner let me try. I also began to think of clever comebacks to say to certain things, and I got annoyed by the rich lady who called me cute in a really high pitched voice. I realized that I was finally beginning to form a personality._

 _I decided that I had about thirty minutes left, and I wanted to sit down. I found a bench that was sitting on the edges of part of the town where the buildings were constructed to leave a large circular gap in the street. I figured that other plays or public events were held here. Right now, there were people playing music. They made sounds I had never heard before. They were sweet and harmonious, and I swayed back and forth with their rhythm._

 _My attention was mostly on the flute player. She was a short, tanned girl who had brown eyes and dark black hair that went just passed her shoulders. Her eyes were usually shut, and she rocked back and forth while she was standing. Her fingers were quick, and suddenly, I thought I had found my passion, and dream in life. I wanted to be like the flute player, the one with black hair and brown eyes with quick fingers._

 _It was dark by the time I realized I'd be late. My eyes widened, and I ran through the streets. I was much more graceful with my movements than I thought I'd be, twisting, and ducking to avoid running into other people._

 _Finally, I found 'The Four Weapons,' where my father must have been talking to the owner. At first I was mad at him for not going to look for me, but I realized then it would have been harder for him to find me. I was actually kind of surprised that he trusted me by myself._

" _Ah… hello Kylie," he said when he saw me. "Are you ready to go?"_

" _Yes," I told him, genuinely surprised that he was not cross. He said goodbye to the man he was talking to, and we went home._

" _I'm sorry," I said, "I should have paid more attention to the time."_

" _It's fine," he said smiling. "I should have taken you to Ignacia a long time ago." As the two of us kept walking, we passed the circle I had been in earlier. Most of the musicians had left, but the flute player was still there. She was playing a slow, sad sounding song, and I slowed, wanting to watch her as long as I could. My father noticed, but I didn't know he did back then._

 _I realized he was aware of my love for music a week later. He had gone to Ignacia again, and despite me asking, he refused to let me come with him. By then, I had surprised him several times, and it became apparent that I had a real personality._

 _Finally, when he got back, it was sunset. He had a bag that contained food again, but he also held a wooden box._

 _I greeted him at the door, and offered to take the food to the kitchen for him. When I had the bag, I ran to the kitchen, and back, to see what was in the box._

" _You'll just have to wait," he told me. "I want to see how far you got on our newest robot."_

 _For the last week we had been building the goldish robot, and while my father had gone, I had worked on it. I had worked on the cannons the whole time, and had finished, and tested them (outside, of course.)_

" _That is amazing work," he said. "Come on, I'll show you now." We walked upstairs to the middle level of the house, and we sat next to each other on the couch. He handed me the box, and told me to open it._

 _Inside was a silver flute. My eyes widened as I slowly picked it up, turning it over in my hands, admiring the beautiful instrument._

" _Where'd you get this?" I asked. My voice was just above a whisper._

" _I went to Ninjago city after Ignacia. There was a store, owned by a lady who makes instruments. I ordered one for you the day after we went to Ignacia."_

" _Do you remember what her name was?" I asked._

" _I believe it was Margret. Margret Salton," he said, but he also told me he wasn't sure. I smiled, and thanked him for getting it for me._

 _The next day, when he was out doing something that I didn't really know, I decided to try to figure it out. I held it the same way as the black haired girl did, and blew into it. A strange, airy sound blew out of it, and I knew I was doing something wrong. I changed the way I held the flute, so that my bottom lip rested on it. I blew air across the opening, and slightly into it. The sound was slightly better, but I was having difficulties. After a bit of trial and error, I finally found my 'sweet spot.'_

 _The next thing I did was trying pushing down different keys. Sometimes the note I played sounded beautiful; other times it sounded horrible. But nonetheless, I figured out how to play a scale after about four hours of practice._

 _Over the next months, I got better and better. Life went on, and I visited Ignacia and even Ninjago City. I developed a personality more and more, but the most exciting thing happened when I was almost nine._

" _Hey Kylie, will you come with me to Ninjago City?" Father asked. I agreed and we left the house._

 _We went to a store that basically sold anything to build everything with. From metal, to wood, to plastic, to tools, the store had everything. The store had a clever name, DIY (which I assumed meant do it yourself.)_

" _Why are we going here?" I asked._

" _We're here because I think we should build another robot."_

" _Why don't you go to the junkyard like we did for the guardian?" The guardian was the big robot that protected our home. (We sometimes referred to it as the juggernaut, but we usually called it the guardian.)_

" _Because this one will be more special, like you; I went to this store to buy the materials I needed for you." I thought about that for a while. I looked like a human, and he didn't use scrap metal for me. But the guardian doesn't look human, and he's made of scrap metal. So is this robot going to look human?_

 _We bought a lot of supplies, and for the next two years, my father and I would spend a lot of time building it (which I found out would be my brother.)_

 _On a Tuesday evening, we finally finished. I leaned against the wall, as my father opened my brother's chest plate._

" _Father, what is his name going to be?" I asked. He paused, his hand over the switch._

" _I don't know. Is there a name you'd like him to have?"_

" _Can we name him Zane?"_

" _Yes; I like the sound of that." He exhaled, and flipped his power switch. I bit my lip as my brother slowly opened his eyes._

" _Hello, Zane," Father said to Zane. I smiled as my brother looked around._

" _I am… Zane?" he asked, and my father nodded. He told Zane that he was his father, and that I was his sister, Kylie._

 _My brother was learning, much differently than I was. He was able to figure most things out just by watching someone do it, and he also figured out right away how to try different strategies if something didn't work the first time. I didn't figure that out until I was three. Eventually, he had also formed a personality, but it wasn't as obvious as mine. Well to most people, including my father, he didn't, but I knew he did. He was calm and polite, although he seemed to have little sense of humor._

 _The strange thing about Zane was, was that he always understood jokes. He'd ask for them to be explained, usually annoying the person talking, but no one (except me after about a year) knew that he really understood the humor, but wasn't going to let anyone know. When he did that, something shone in his eyes. He kept a straight face, but his eyes were always laughing._

 _When my brother was two, and when I was thirteen, my father died. He shut down Zane's memory, but not mine (I didn't have a memory switch.) He told me to go into the world, and live like I was human. Zane's memory switch contained information on how to breathe, walk, speak, and other things like that. When he died, my brother and I left the house, and went outside. I turned to the left, and he turned to the right._

 _That was the last I heard of him for the next three years. Then, one day, two years after I had left the school where I had met Cole (I was only there for a year) the falcon flew to my apartment._

 _The falcon was a companion my father created for both of us. We could see through its eyes, (we just had to practice. That was also how I got a better look at Neuro and Clouse's conversation while I was spying on them.) And we could speak to it. Anyway, the falcon was carrying a letter in its talons, and when it reached me, it dropped it into my hands. It had two words on it: Kylie Julien. I slid it open, and a paper fell out._

 _Dear Kylie,_

 _My name is Zane. I am a robot, as I found out today. I was in the Birchwood Forest, and the guardian mistook me for an intruder. I didn't have my memories, so I fought it, I plan to fix it tomorrow, and accidentally shut it down. I found a strange symbol on it that was identical to the one on the falcon I've been following on several occasions. So I looked around, and found this house disguised as a tree. I went inside, and found blueprints for the falcon, which I fixed fairly easily. It turned out that it was showing me who I really was, and embarrassingly, when I found out, I fainted._

 _I woke up about an hour later, when I heard the door open, and my friends came in. Now is probably a good time to tell you that I am a ninja, or nindroid as one of my friends, Jay, previously dubbed me. I train with my Sensei, Wu, with three others. It turns out that I can wield ice. My teammates are Kai, who controls fire, Jay, who controls lightning, and Cole, who controls earth. Right now we are looking for Sensei's nephew, Lloyd, who has been captured by the serpentine, who I think you know about, because you taught me about them. (Thank you for that, by the way. It has been useful for fighting them.)_

 _So they came in, and I figured they wouldn't believe me if I told them I wasn't human, so I just showed them. They were shocked, and as Jay says, he looked just like a kid in a candy store. They still think that I do not understand jokes, and they figured that 'I was acting so weird,' because I was a robot. It turns out, I have a funny switch, and I sensed that Jay would have wanted me to show them, despite the fact that I really didn't want to, but after about a minute, I shut it off, and Jay was laughing his head off, almost literally (although a part of me wishes it was literal.)_

 _So after that, they tried to convince me to stay with them, but I refused. After they left, I looked at my blueprints and found my memory switch. I flipped it, and my memories returned. I knew who I was!_

 _I decided to try to catch up with the others, with the falcon on my shoulder. When I got outside, I saw my friends being crushed by treehorns. I was overcome with fury, and I ran into the battle. The others got up and assisted me, but then the treehorns walked away from us. The others thought they were in the clear, but then we saw the queen._

 _I knew that I had to protect those who couldn't have protected themselves, so I ran forward, and froze their queen. I found my true potential in the process. That was amazing! I was the first of the team to do so, and I made the others jealous._

 _I'd like to keep writing letters to you, and could you maybe write back? The falcon will probably find you._

 _Love,_

 _Zane_

 _I smiled at the letter. Then I wrote back right away._

 _Over the next two years, we wrote back and forth, but we never met. Well, I watched him fighting sometimes, but he never saw me. Then he died, and my life grew boring again. Then I lost my job, met Neuro, and now the Tournament of Elements is happening._

* * *

I smiled as I watched the ice form under my feet. I knew it had to connect something, so I started it at a cliff, but made it go the other way. I laughed (quietly) as I looped and twirled, creating more ice wherever I wanted it to go. It was an amazing feeling. Flying above the ground, it was no wonder why my brother loved this.

Finally, I landed on the ground, less gracefully than I had hoped. My depth perception was off as I fell from fifty feet above the ground. I survived, and luckily didn't break anything. However, half of my face plate fell off, and I looked like Zane when he died.

Sighing, I pulled out my baton, and held the face plate in place while I traced the outline of it with the baton. It settled back in place, good as new. I smiled, looking at it in the reflection of a clear pond nearby.

Then I heard a rustling noise, and I realized that Jay had landed in a tree, facing away from me. Quickly, I left the area, and walked through the forest, unsure where to go.

"KJ?" a voice called out. "You're alive?" I looked up and smiled when I saw Neuro. He was sitting with his back against the trunk of a tree, and his legs were lying on the branch. When he saw me, he slid off the tree and walked over to me.

I wanted to tell him something, but I didn't know what to say. Eventually, I settled on, "Yeah, I guess I did!"

"How?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. I let my hands glow an icy blue, and created a smaller version of the ice track I had made.

"Wait, you're Zane's older sister?" he asked, surprised. I nodded, and he continued.

"The same Zane that is a ninja, that Jay, Kai, Cole, and Lloyd came to save? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't see why I should've."

"Because, you and the ninja are trying to save the same person!" My eyes widened. I knew that my brother was working with the ninja, and that the ninja were trying to save their teammates, but I hadn't made the connection. Neuro had told me I often missed obvious points, and he was right.

"You and the ninja could have worked together to save him!"

"And why would I want to work with the ninja?"

"If you had, you might have had enough power to stop Chen and my father… err… Chen and Clouse," he said, getting paler.

"Wait, what did you say?"

"We could have stopped Chen and Clouse?"

"No, the first time,"

"Chen and Clouse!"

"No, you said Chen and my father!" I said, stepping towards him. "You're Clouse's son, and a spy!"

* * *

 **(A/N) Wow! That was a long chapter. It took three days to write. My other one's took like an hour. Please review, and if you had a guess as to Kylie's brother that wasn't Zane, I'd like to hear it! Also, StoryWriter2003, and Darkrainbow (guest) if you read this, could you do me a favor and review telling me Klara and Tyler's fears. I'd like to hear five fears, and can you make them a mix of generic fears (the dark, spiders, etc.) and more unique ones, I'd appreciate it. If you want, you can include why they're afraid of those things. I have a reason for them which I will reveal at the end of the next chapter.**

 **To everyone else, I'd love reviews. I'm also sorry that I have author's notes that only apply to StoryWriter2003 and Darkrainbow, but they asked for OC's in the story, so I need some information. Anyway, there will be a very important author's note next chapter, so please read it.**

 **Until next time,**

 **Frostbite**


	13. The Accusation

Chapter 13

Since he went to the tournament of elements with her, Neuro knew Kylie would be mad when the truth came out about Clouse being his father. Who wouldn't have been upset, to find out that the one person they could trust was actually the son of Chen's right hand man?

However, nothing could have prepared him for the fury Kylie was in right now.

"You knew! You knew all along where my brother was, and you never told me!" she accused, yelling. "The reason you told me about Skylor being a spy was so you could keep me from learning about who you were! All of this is your fault, all of it! You should have told me!"

"KJ… I didn't know where he was," said Neuro, trying to stay calm.

"Oh sure you didn't, you had no idea, did you," asked Kylie, sarcastically. "I bet you didn't know your father was evil either! I can't believe you! You and Skylor are both spies, aren't you?"

"KJ, I'm not a spy! I had no idea what Chen was planning. I didn't know," the master of the mind said. Neuro was being completely honest. He didn't know anything about what was really happening in the tournament, besides what he and Kylie had uncovered. Neuro did realize that he really should've told Kylie sooner, but she didn't tell him about her brother, and after all, she never asked. He really did hate his father, and he truly thought he was a fool. He wanted to stop them, but with Kylie yelling at him, he didn't think that would be happening anytime soon.

"That's why you weren't looking for Nya! You knew you'd be fine either way!"

"No, I read a guard's mind. While everyone's searching, the guards are coming to capture everyone. This is the last day of the tournament, and Chen's going to begin carrying out his plot, whatever it is. I was hiding, and hoping they wouldn't find me."

"No, I don't believe you! I trusted you, and you blew it, Neuro. I bet that's why you haven't left yet. You're trying to get the guards over here now, and help them capture me!"

"Is she right, Neuro?" asked a familiar voice. Kylie recognized as Clouse. "Are you joining us, and finally realizing the side that you really should be on?"

"I will not help you!" shouted Neuro as his father and several guards walked into the clearing.

"Well then, guards, get them both," Clouse said as they ran at the elemental masters.

"KJ, I know you don't trust me, but can we argue about this later?" asked Neuro.

She rolled her eyes, and nodded. The two of them prepared for a long battle, as more guards ran to assist Clouse.

Kylie's mind snapped into focus. The first two guards were taken out by a kick in the gut. She leapt towards another as she back flipped, kicking a guard in the stomach, and wrapping her legs around another's neck from behind, and pulling them both backwards. When Kylie fell, she rolled, and popped back up, but the guard stayed on the ground, unconscious. The master of music slid underneath another cultist, using her ankles to wrap around his feet, pulling him to his knees. She popped back up, and used the fallen guard as if he was a springboard, and connected her feet with the shoulders of the next guard, knocking them both to the ground, with her on top of him. Kylie rolled out of the way of a sword, and one of the cultists had hit the guard Kylie had just fought.

Neuro had taken a spear from one of the guards, and it became extremely helpful while fighting, because he could keep the guards farther away from him. As more guards ran at him, more fell. One particularly skilled guard had nearly landed a blow to the telepath, so he was rewarded with the spear being lodged in his leg. A guard had snuck behind Neuro, and both arms around his neck. Neuro jabbed both of his elbows into the cultist just underneath his ribcage. The guard fell to the ground and Neuro used all of his force to knock one guard into the next two, before running at the first, jumping at them, kicking his stomach, gaining more height with the kick, before back flipping to keep the extra force from knocking him over. He ducked under a sword, but the guard behind him wasn't so lucky. The master of the mind smirked, before turning around, and kicking one of the cultists toward Kylie, who ducked under the guard, and pushed him into the last standing guard.

The elemental masters stood up, and looked at the scene around them. While unconscious bodies littered the ground, there was still one standing.

Clouse stood there, frowning.

"You may have defeated the cultists, but neither of you can beat me! Secor!" he said, causing purple flames to rise on his hands, and shoot towards Kylie and Neuro. She braced for impact, but Neuro ran forward. He shot force waves toward his father, as Clouse continued with his purple fire. They pushed against each other, fighting for control.

"KJ, get out of here!" Neuro yelled, trying to focus more.

"No, I'm not leaving you," she said.

"Just trust me; you need to get out of here,"

"I can't just leave you!"

"Yes you can. You need to think about priorities, KJ!"

"That's you, I guess you were right; maybe you aren't a spy," Kylie had realized that Neuro was on her side. He may have been Clouse's son, but you can't choose a family, and Kylie knew that he really did hate him.

"No, I'm not as important as your brother, you need to find him first!" yelled the master of the mind, as his force waves grew weaker, and Clouse's flames stronger.

Kylie slowly inched away from the battle. Neuro's words echoed in her mind.

"You need to find her brother first," he had told her, but his eyes clearly added, 'then come back for me, please.'

"No one is leaving!" said Clouse, as the sorcerer stopped shooting flames at Neuro. He was building up power, and he aimed toward Kylie.

The master of music just stood still, in shock. Neuro noticed it, and yelled, "Kylie, run!"

But there wouldn't have been enough time; all three of them knew that for a fact. The master of the mind ran forward, and pushed her out of the way.

Kylie turned and ran. As she did, she turned around.

The last thing she saw as she looked back was Neuro's unconscious body crumpling to the ground.

* * *

 **(A/N) So, if you read my last authors note, you'll know that I said there'd be an important announcement after the chapter, so here it is.**

 **This story will have a sequel! Yes, Kylie, Klara, Tyler, and Neuro will be in another story. This one isn't over, but if I announce the sequel, I'll be less likely to forget the idea. StoryWriter2003, I still need to know Klara's fears. If I don't have them by the end of the story, I'll make them up myself. Anyway, please review, and the next chapter should be up soon.**

 **Until next time,**

 **-Frostbite.**


	14. The Reunion

Chapter 14

* * *

 **All right, there's an author's note at the beginning. I'd like to dedicate this chapter to TheyAllStartOutOrdinary for guessing who Kylie's brother was. I was going to dedicate chapter twelve or thirteen to TASOO, but I forgot. Sorry.**

* * *

When Kylie heard people talking again, she continued running. She didn't know who she was running from exactly, just that they were guards. The nindroid was getting tired, and although she had a lot of stamina, it was hard to run for more than two hours straight.

Fortunately for Kylie, there was a stream nearby, and she stopped to get a drink. The water was clear, and she figured that she would be able to drink it without getting sick (yes, she could get sick.)

After she had enough water, she began to try to form a plan. She had to focus on what there was to do. She had to find Zane, find Neuro, stop Chen, and then tell the ninja about her relation to Zane, preferably in that order.

However, Kylie was exhausted from running and fighting, and she promptly fell asleep.

She woke up in the middle of the night, relieved that none of the guards had found her. There were a couple of them talking, and she climbed a tree to listen without being spotted.

"So, how many of the fighters did we get again?" one asked.

"All but the music girl, and the earth ninja," the other one told him. Kylie realized that she would fight Cole in the final round, unless one of them got caught.

"Clouse said that if we find them, we should bring them back to the palace, and the two of them will fight later today." said the second one.

Kylie chose that moment to slip out of the tree, and catch the attention of the two guards.

"So what's going on?" She asked innocently.

"It turns out that all of the fighters dropped out of the tournament, except for you and Cole. Chen said that the two of you will be fighting later today, and we should bring you back to the palace.

"All right, let's go." Kylie followed the guards back to the palace, and went straight to her suite. She switched the gi she was wearing, and went into the training room she had discovered the day before the final round. There was a punching bag in it, and Kylie started punching and kicking it, practicing different attacks. The nindroid had been waiting for this fight for a long time. She went to the kitchen when a kabuki knocked on her door.

"Kylie, you have a fight coming in five minutes. I will escort you to your arena." Kylie gulped down a glass of water, and walked out of her suite, ready for battle.

She went to the palace arena, where she stood across from Cole, who had his gi up already. Kylie pulled up the hood of her gi and got into a battle position.

"It's the final round! It all ends here!" Chen announced. There was a golden pillar standing between the two of them, with a Jade Blade resting at the top. Guards and kabuki stood along the sides, cheering for the fight to begin.

"Cole, master of earth, verses Kylie, master of music; ready, fight!" said Chen, sitting back on his throne.

Cole didn't need to be told twice. He had wanted to give Kylie revenge for all of the things she'd said, and for getting Jay out. He ran towards her, punching her in the gut, and she fell back against the wall. Kylie jumped up, and prepared to attack Cole, but she hesitated.

Kylie thought back to what Neuro had said earlier. _If you had worked with the ninja you might have had enough power to stop Chen._ She sighed. One of the last things Kylie wanted to do was work with the ninja, but it was her only choice.

"Cole, I don't want to fight you!" she said, hoping he'd believe her.

"You don't?" he asked, kicking her in the stomach. "All you've done is fight since we met!" He grabbed both of her feet, and threw her several feet, into a wall. "You don't stop talking about how much better you are, you taunt us, and you are mocking us for losing Jay!" The ninja of earth was right there. Kylie had not left them alone the day after she beat Jay, teasing and laughing at them.

"Cole, I'm sorry," said Kylie, halfheartedly.

"Sure you are!"

"I am. Why else would I have given you the parachute?"

"I don't know, and I don't know why you're alive, but I don't care!" Cole made earth form at one of his hands, and swung it at Kylie. If the punch connected, it would be enough to knock her unconscious.

Out of desperation, Kylie yelled, "Ice," and ice flew from her hands and formed a barrier between them. Cole's attack was blocked, as the barrier broke.

"What the?" he asked, as the nindroid slowly got to her shaky feet. "You mean Zane's your brother?"

She nodded, and told Cole, "I just realized that. I think we should work together to stop Chen. Are you with me or not?"

Cole sighed, and agreed. He turned to Chen, and shot a blast of earth right at him.

"The tournament is over Chen!" he said.

"Yes it is, and I won!" he said, motioning for the guards to fight them. Cole and Kylie went back to back, and fought.

"Wait, but you told Klara that your brother was only seven!" yelled Cole.

"He was not programmed to age!"

"So I have a seven year old as my teammate?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?" she asked, kicking a guard.

"Nothing, just that most seven year olds are not ninja!" answered the ninja of earth, knocking two of the guards into each other, before throwing both at another group of them.

"Most seven year olds aren't nindroids either!" the master of music flipped over a guard, kicked him with both feet, sending him towards the ground.

"I can't believe I'm having this long of a conversation with you while fighting," said Cole, spinning a guard around by the feet, hitting all the cultists that were nearby.

"I can't believe that I'm having this long of a conversation with you at all," came the sarcastic reply. "I should be looking for Zane."

"Then go find him, I can deal with the guards!" said Cole, punching the ground, and sending columns of earth out of the floor.

Kylie nodded, and wove through the earth columns, running out of the room and into the chow house, right next to the palace arena. She almost reached the lever disguised as a chair, but got tackled to the ground.

"Klara, what are you doing?" asked the nindroid, pushing her off.

"I'm not on your side," she said, as Kylie jumped back up.

The two of them got into a battle, inside the chow house. Klara swung a punch at Kylie, but Kylie caught her hand. The sorceress tried to kick her, but her foot was also caught. Kylie smirked, but was caught off guard when her opponent attacked with her other foot, causing Kylie to fall back.

"You fight like a girl," said Klara.

"Take that back right now!" yelled Kylie, finding a plate behind her, and using it to block another attack. She jumped onto a table, and over the other side, before knocking the table over on the sorceress. Klara groaned, before shoving the table off of her. She reached behind her, and began to pull something out.

Kylie took a step back, expecting a gun or something like that. But it was a bow, with an arrow nocked. Kylie laughed at the thought that a bow and arrow would be helpful in close combat, but that changed when she found herself pinned to the wall, with an arrow caught on the hood over her gi.

"Okay, I won't make fun of that anymore," she said. Finally, she dislodged the arrow, and ran at Klara, who had ducked behind a counter of the room. Kylie leapt at her.

Klara reached for the closest thing, a box of black pepper. She pushed it into the eyes of her attackers. Kylie leapt back, as the pepper reached her eyes. She tried to focus. But her eyes were very sensitive, and they burned so much that she couldn't see at all.

"Okay, I can't see, so I'm switching to falcon vision," she said, once she saw the falcon fly into the room. Her eyes glowed bright blue as the pain in her eyes numbed. Her fight with Klara continued, and as they fought, Kylie marveled as she watched the sorceress with her bow. She could have an arrow nocked in less than a second and a half, and she knew when to fire an arrow, and when to attack with her bow. The bow had small jagged edges on it, and had given Kylie several cuts.

Suddenly, Kylie (who was still using her falcon vision) noticed someone entering behind her. She immediately pressed herself to the floor, and four shuriken flew over her head, trapping Klara on a wall, when two connected. The others fell uselessly to the ground.

Kylie looked behind her, and saw the two people she wanted to see most; Neuro and Zane.

After losing their elements, Skylor convinced Chen to allow Kai to stay away from the factory, and the other prisoners were all taken to the factory. Neuro's element was also what had helped him memorize the entire labyrinth. Now he had no idea where they were going. However, the master of the mind did remember that the torches lining the walls had six inch points at the bottom. He grabbed one (with some difficulty do to the fact that his hands were chained behind him. But he got the torch behind him, and began to pick the lock. After several failures, he unlocked the chains, and before Lloyd (the prisoner next to him) had noticed, he was gone, taking off in the other direction.

He ran through a few tunnels before stopping. He sat down, leaning back against the wall. But when Neuro heard people talking again, he continued running. He didn't know who he was running from exactly, just that they were guards. The master of the mind was getting tired, and although he was physically strong, it was hard to run for more than thirty minutes straight, especially after he had lost his element.

Finally, he stopped, when he couldn't see or hear anyone. He sat down, and knew he was in the less used parts of the tunnels, because there were fewer torches, so he hoped the darkness would conceal him well enough as he rested.

When Neuro woke up a few hours later, it was because he heard footsteps. He jumped up, ready to run, but stopped when he saw someone silver run through a tunnel that could be seen just barely from where he was. He knew it had to be Zane, because Neuro figured that he'd look different, and the only other silver person he knew was Karloff when he used his element, and the master of metal's power had already been taken from him. Neuro pressed himself back against a wall, waiting for the guards to pass before running after them. When Zane (as Neuro had verified after seeing him turn around by his appearance) reached a clearing in the tunnels, he turned, preparing for a fight. When the telepath reached the clearing (which was a dead end), there were no guards left standing. Neuro realized that even without his element, Zane was still a serious threat.

"Who are you?" Zane asked, startling Neuro when he saw that the nindroid had a guard's katana, and was holding it inches from his chest.

The last several days were very difficult for both Zane and Pixal as he struggled to completely recover all of his memories. Eventually, he had broken out of his cell, and saved what was left of Pixal. He was attacked by Clouse and some of his followers. Zane ran through the tunnels, memorizing the twists and turns. He was making a map in the back of his head with Pixal guiding him away from other guards. As the titanium ninja turned around, he saw that Clouse had some strange form of electricity that he was chasing him with. Pixal warned him that if it hit him, it could do major damage.

Pixal and Zane were an amazing team after he gave her half his power source. Even though the nindroid had died, that didn't stop them. She warned him when the next wave of guards were coming, and could activate shuriken that exploded when he needed a second to recover. Most importantly though, he had to stay away from Clouse, who was holding the one thing that would keep him from getting out of that part of the tunnels.

Zane then saw something strange. Guards several feet away from him were falling to the ground. He sensed someone else there, but he didn't know who. The second he found time to escape, he did, turning to the next stretch of the labyrinth and running.

Over the next twelve hours or so, he walked through the tunnels, running when he heard the voices of guards. From their conversations, capturing him was a priority. Zane continued through the labyrinth in a much stealthier fashion.

That night, he heard voices.

"Hey, Neuro escaped!" yelled one of the guards. Zane looked up as he saw guards running away from the rock he hid behind. Of course, Zane shouldn't have chosen that moment to let his guard down, because there were still guards, and when he poked his head up, he was spotted.

The guards that saw Neuro's escape (Zane had no clue who Neuro was) weren't chasing him, and were helping the other cultists in catching Zane. He ran to a dead-end, which he found to be an advantage up a fallen guard's katana. He sliced through the guards like they were little more than soft butter.

When all of his attackers were on the ground, Zane looked up to see a man wearing one of the prison uniforms. He was standing there with his mouth open and with a torch in his hands. Zane didn't recognize him, but thought he might've been a threat, so he raised his katana inches from Neuro's heart, and asked firmly, "Who are you?"

"My name is Neuro, and I'm a friend of Kylie's," he said startled, but still kept his cool. Zane repeated the name Kylie softly several times.

"You know the ninja, right?" Neuro asked.

 _Ninja…ninja…Kylie and the ninja…Kylie…ninja…ninja…Kylie…Kylie…Kylie…ninja and Kylie._ Those thoughts echoed through Zane's mind. His memories were like a jigsaw puzzle with two missing pieces. Kylie and the ninja were the two pieces missing, and made his memories fit like the gears of the clock. He remembered who exactly he was. He was Zane, and the titanium ninja.

"You know KJ?" he asked eventually. Neuro nodded. "Where is she?"

"I don't know. She still has her element still, but Chen's trying to steal it. I've lost mine, so my memory of where we are isn't very great."

"Zane!" said Pixal from inside his head.

"Yes?" asked Zane.

"What do you mean?" Neuro questioned, but Zane gave no explanation.

"I have located the falcon's signal. I think he may know where Kylie is, whoever she is. I will guide you through the tunnels."

"Kylie's my older sister," said Zane, adding confusion to the former telepath. The nindroid took off, running through the tunnel.

"Where are you going?" yelled Neuro.

"To find Kylie!" was the faint answer. Neuro shrugged, and decided to keep up with him, as he raced through the tunnels. The two of ran in silence, and finally Zane explained what was going on with Pixal.

When the two of them reached the chow house, Klara and Kylie were fiercely locked in a battle. Kylie's eyes jutted to the side, and she was slightly distracted when she saw them, but she turned so her back to the two of them, and kept Klara from seeing them.

Neuro felt something cold and metallic in his hands, and saw two shuriken. Zane also had two, and the second he saw Kylie flatten her body to the ground, he threw the weapons. He and Zane each had one that connected with their target, and the other two fell to the ground.

While Klara struggled in the metal, Kylie stood and ran over to Zane. Neuro watched as the two siblings embraced each other, happy that he was able to find him. He folded his arms, and moved to give the two of them more space.

The nindroids had both broken apart, and Kylie had run over to Neuro, and hugged him. It was surprising. She seemed so insulting and really tough when he first met her, but she was actually really sweet, once she trusted him.

When the two of them split, Kylie finally knew what was going on. She hadn't the entire tournament. At first she was trying to tell if it was love she felt for Neuro, or just a strong bond. Never before had she felt that way about someone besides her family, but she hated almost everyone else, so that was expected. When she found out about his family, Kylie began to wonder if he was trying to lure him into a trap. But now, Kylie realized that they were just amazing friends. If there was love involved, it was the kind that friends subconsciously had for each other. Not exactly romantic, but Kylie didn't care. It wasn't love, but it was good enough for her.

"So, it looks like a family reunion," said Clouse, walking in, and standing next to Klara, who had freed herself from the shuriken. "Isn't it, Neuro?"

* * *

 **(A/N) Anyway,** **congratulations again to TASOO, and to anyone else who guessed it. Please read and review.**

 **Until next time,**

 **-Frostbite**


	15. The Switch

Chapter 15

Only a moment after Clouse had entered, he was followed by Chen, Skylor, and Tyler. All of them were ready for a battle, but no one attacked.

"Well, are we going to fight or not?" asked Kylie, always ready for a battle.

"Why should we fight you?" asked Klara. Aren't there others that are still tired from battling guards, and would be no trouble to fight?"

"Like, who?" asked Zane. Looking at Kylie. She thought for a moment, trying to figure out who the sorceress was talking about.

"Oh," she said. It's just Cole; nothing to worry about. Well, he's been fighting for probably at least an hour, but I don't think it really matters. I mean, it's just Cole we're talking about."

"Yes, but I really doubt that, no matter how strong he is, he can beat two sorcerers," Clouse said. "Klara, come." The two of them left the chow house. Zane turned to follow, but stopped once Kylie grabbed his shoulder.

"You can't go. By the time you get there, Cole will be gone. They're both know sorcery, and you don't stand a chance against them. Chen is here with his staff, and if we can break it, you'll get your element back."

"I have to go. Cole's my teammate, and besides, Chen doesn't have my element."

"You mean, you still have your power?"

"No; I never said that."

"I'll go help Cole," said Neuro. When the other two looked at him he added, "It's the most logical solution. Cole would be able to help us, as much as you don't want help, KJ. I know the tunnels, and I'll be able to find him, even without my element. I know Clouse's and Klara's fighting styles, and I can probably convince Klara not to fight us."

"That does make sense," muttered Kylie. Neuro nodded, before running off, determined to beat his family to wherever Cole was.

Neuro paused, trying to decide which way to go. He decided that if he went the same way as Clouse and Klara, they'd still beat him. But, these were the tunnels used most often, and there were still small maps carved into the walls for that part of the tunnels. Neuro quickly checked one of them, before running off in another direction.

He wove through the tunnels quickly, and soon found the palace arena, where he'd heard guards discussing the final fight. However, the only people he saw were guards, laying unconsciously on the ground. Neuro used a 'trail' of guards and weapons to run through the tunnels to where Cole most likely was.

Finally, he reached Chen's gallery, as he liked to call it. He had most likely illegally bought it from someone recently because Neuro had never seen it before. It had a pink ninja gi, a clog he recognized from the celestial clock, and a pirate's peg-leg. All of it was strange, and he didn't even know some of it still existed. Finally, he found Cole, who was staring at a scythe on a wall. When he saw Neuro, he didn't register that Neuro had escaped, even though the prison uniform he had should have made it obvious.

"Hey Nerd-o," said Cole. "If I pull this scythe off the wall, will it trigger a trap?"

"Why should I know?" he asked. Truth be told, Neuro knew it was perfectly safe, but didn't want to tell Cole that quite yet.

"I don't know, you seem pretty smart."

"It totally will," Neuro said sarcastically, but Cole didn't realize this, because he knew Neuro as a serious person and didn't know that he was sarcastic at times.

Cole turned to another wall, looking at other weapons. Neuro remembered the objects he was looking at; they must not have been as new as the others. He grabbed the scythe and tossed it to Cole, who caught it casually.

"Clouse and Klara are going to be here soon, and they're going to want to fight, Cole," he said. "So be ready."

Neuro walked over to the other side of the gallery, and picked up a purple sword with a long, jagged blade.

"What's that?" asked the ninja.

"An Anacondrai Sword, with the sharpest blade in existence."

"I'd probably be better with it than you," said Cole. "Why don't I use it?"

"Okay, try picking it up," Neuro told him. Cole tried to grab the handle, and hold it up, but he could only get it a few inches off of the ground. Neuro smirked and picked it up, spinning it around with a skill to match Kai's.

"How come I can't lift it well?" asked Cole, obviously upset that Neuro could do what he couldn't. "I mean, I have super strength, and you don't even have your element."

"My element doesn't control my skill, I do. Only those who have an Anacondrai tattoo, and have learned the way of the serpentine, specifically the Anacondrai, can wield it. I can't even use it as well as most people."

"Wait, you are-"

"Clouse's son? Yes I am."

"So you're a spy?"

"No. Why does everyone keep saying that? You know, you and KJ have quite a bit in comment." Cole blushed a bit, but turned away, pulling up the hood of his gi.

"Anyway, I have half a tattoo, but I'm not about to start fighting you." At that moment, he pushed Cole behind a stone statue carved into a samurai, and waited next to him, until Clouse and Klara were past them. He nodded, and Cole, grabbed a spear next to him, and threw it at Klara. She turned and caught it just before it hit her, and the two of them turned as Neuro and Cole stepped into the middle of the gallery hall.

Without any taunting or talking in general, a battle began. Neuro was expecting a difficult battle, but had underestimated it. Klara also had an Anacondrai Sword, and was fighting Neuro, as Cole tried to defend himself against Clouse.

"Sibling rivalry, huh?" asked Klara.

"Yup, and the younger sibling's always better," Neuro answered. The swords clashed as the fighters danced around each other. Neither of them could land a hit, although Klara gave Neuro a few close calls as the battle went on.

Eventually, Cole found himself pinned to the wall by the scythe he was wielding. Clouse turned to his children, and saw that Neuro had dropped his blade, and was on the ground, rolling to avoid Klara's strikes. Unfortunately, he was trapped against the wall.

"Finish it, Klara," said Clouse.

"Please, don't Klara!" said Neuro.

"Klara, I'm your father, listen to me."

"And I'm your brother. You know, the brother that you got out of the island. That you helped steal food for, and taught to survive on the streets. The same brother that you saved from thugs multiple times, even when you were only twelve. The same brother who's life you saved multiple times, and that you promised to not let anything happen to him. Why break that promise now, Klara? After keeping it for so long? I don't care what side you say you're on. You are my sister, and I don't care what side you say you on, because you are still my sister, and you are still a good person."

"Yes, but how do I fight him? He's with Chen, and there are too many cultists to fight. This is the only way I can survive. I tried to warn you, but you didn't listen to me. I can't stop him," said Klara, too quietly for Clouse or Cole to hear. She lowered her blade slightly.

"So you're just giving up? You won't even try to find another way to get out of this mess? You can't just give up."

"I know, but there's nothing I can do," she whispered, sighing.

"But there's something _we_ can do; together," said Neuro. "But we have to work together, and we can't keep fighting." By now Clouse had noticed Klara's delay, and was telling her to finish it.

The sorceress tightened her grip on her sword, and turned to look at him.

"Klara, I have given you an order; follow it."

"We can stop this Klara, but you have to decide which side you are on," Neuro said.

"You already are on this side, Klara. It's too late for you to try to say that you are on his side."

"Klara, if you are on his side, I'll accept it, and I will fight you. I will not hesitate to attack, and if absolutely necessary, I will kill. But just remember, it is not too late, and whatever happens, I'm still your little brother."

Klara released a breath she had been holding in. She turned to Clouse and said, "I have made my decision. I will not fight beside you any longer, and I will fight for the right side."

"You are a traitor," said Clouse, glaring.

"I'm no traitor. I am ending my traitorous life, and joining the side that is right. I know who I am. I have a mother and a brother, but you are not my father. I will not have a fool of a father, and I will fight him until the battle is won. Neuro stood up, and freed Cole. The three of them were facing Clouse ready to attack.

Then the sorcerer began a chant, one that Klara recognized. "Get back!" she yelled, as the three of them were on the ground as Clouse created an explosion, and disappeared in the process.

"Let's get back to KJ and Zane," said Neuro, and Cole found himself sprinting to catch up with the siblings as they ran to get back to the nindroids.

As for Kylie and Zane, they found fighting three people with nearly every element very difficult. However, putting together their teamwork and their fighting skills, they were able to hold the Chen, Skylor, and Tyler off for several minutes.

"Wait, so you don't have your element, but neither does Chen?" asked Kylie. "Did you lose it when you fought the Overlord?"

"No, I still had it. Tyler has it. It's in his necklace."

"Oh, that would've been nice to know sooner," she said, as she back flipped, hooking her foot around his necklace, and expertly pulled it over his head. She flipped it into her hand, holding it by the chain, and preparing to throw it against the wall.

"No! Don't break it!" pleaded Tyler. He didn't' want to lose it because his mother had given it to him before she died, and had told him to keep it safe, and never let anyone take it. There was one day, where he had somehow lost it, but after only an hour, Skylor had found it. Although he didn't know that where it was, Chen had used it instead of his staff to take Zane's power, so that if the staff broke, he wouldn't lose all the elements completely. When they were thunderblading, Skylor had assumed he knew of its powers, and had been the one to create the ice on the track, but it really was Kylie.

The necklace was the one thing he had to remind him of his mother. There were no pictures or anything else besides it. If Kylie broke it, his memories would literally be shattered.

"Why should we listen? You're our enemy," Kylie said smugly.

"I don't want to help him, but I can't fight him," said Tyler.

"So then help us," Klara said, as she, Neuro, and finally Cole ran in. "That's what I did."

"I- you… I can still join you guys? You'll let me help?"

"Heck, we're outnumbered by like about sixty four to one. We could use all the help we can get," said Kylie.

"Actually, if Klara and Tyler do join us, the ratio will be smaller," corrected Zane.

"Okay, I'll help you, but don't break my necklace, please," said Tyler.

"But then how is Zane supposed to get his element back?" asked Kylie.

"I can actually help with that," said Klara, before saying some sort of spell. An icy blue light flew from the necklace to Zane, and when it hit him, is ice returned.

"Um… guys," Neuro interrupted. "Do any of us know what happened to Skylor and Chen?" as he had pointed out, the two of them had left, and no one knew where they were.

"He's probably going to convince Kai to help him," said Tyler.

"And if I know him, he'll never let Chen convince him," said Zane.

"Yeah, but Skylor might," Cole said, worriedly. "He kind of has a thing for her."

"What sort of thing?" asked Zane, although he understood what Cole meant, he wasn't about to let him know that.

"You know, he likes her… you know, loves her," said Cole. "Why don't you understand these things yet, Zane?" A smirk formed on the nindroid's face, but Cole didn't see it.

"Why don't we try to get Skylor on our side?" asked Tyler.

"You're right," said Kylie.

"Just leave that to Kai. If he can do anything, he can convince her," Zane confirmed.

* * *

 **(A/N) So, there's the next chapter. By the way, if there's anything that I could improve on, could you review, and help me? I love all the reviews, and I will come out with more chapters soon.**

 **Until next time,**

 **-Frostbite.**


	16. The Tattoo

Chapter 16

Although no one else knew it yet, Chen had successfully convinced Kai to join him, or so he thought. Kai had planned to pretend to help Chen, and once he got close enough, break the staff. He had seen Nya and Garmadon, who had somehow gotten caught during the last round. He made a mental note to save them before Clouse's serpent woke up and ate them. He had convinced Skylor to help him, and his confidence grew quickly. Perhaps a bit too quickly.

All of his confidence disappeared when Chen told him that he had to get a tattoo.

"What? No, I can't get a tattoo!" he had nearly yelled when he heard that. Chen had earlier told him that anyone with a tattoo would turn into an Anacondrai once the spell was complete.

"And why not?" asked Chen. "You are on our side, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but… I-I just can't," said the red ninja. If he had his element, they wouldn't even be having that conversation, but without his fire, he had no idea what to do.

"Are you afraid it will hurt?" asked Clouse mockingly.

"No… I… fine." The last word was nearly a whisper, but Chen and Clouse both heard it.

"Excellent," said Chen. "Come along, we must move quickly. I still need to find that one girl and your old friend Cole."

Kai tried to move as slowly as he could without attracting suspicion, but it wasn't easy. When he reached the room that was presumably where he'd get the tattoo, he was asked where he wanted it.

"Um… I don't really care," he said, quite worried now.

"Well, you have to make a decision," said the cultist who was doing the tattoos.

"Well, just on my back." He took a hesitant step towards the cultist.

Kai then heard a quiet sound. The ninja were trained to hear suspicious noises so he snapped his head to the direction of the noise. He recognized Klara and Tyler hiding near the back of the room. They were hidden well, so they wouldn't be seen by anyone else. Seeing them worried Kai, but he continued walking towards the cultist.

He was expecting a stinging pain to come soon, but there was none. He looked around, and saw that everyone's attention was on someone else; Neuro.

Neuro had gone back to his suite to change into his normal clothing, because sneaking around with a bright orange prison uniform would be as if he was asking the guards to find him. On the desk in his room, there was a note.

 _Hello, Neuro,_

 _I'll skip a lengthy introduction, and get to the point. We both know that Kylie is one of the closest people to you. We have a tracking device in her gi, and we will kill her if we don't see you the tattoo room in one hour. Tell no one._

 _Clouse._

Neuro didn't know what to do. If he went, none of the other elemental masters, Tyler, or Klara would ever trust him. But he knew he would have to go; he wasn't about to let Kylie die.

Neuro turned to leave, but was stopped.

"How long have you been in my room?" he asked Zane, who was sitting on his bed.

"Just long about fifteen seconds, about the time you found Clouse's note" said the titanium ninja. "You're not seriously thinking of going, are you?"

"I'm not about to let an innocent person die!"

"They'll never find her, she's too stealthy to be caught."

"I thought you said your read the note; there's a tracking device on her."

"No, they just made that up to convince you to go," said Zane standing up and crossing his arms.

"Really?" he asked. Zane nodded and said he heard Clouse telling Chen about how they didn't have any trackers left for Kylie's gi, because the other fighters all used objects from Chen to try to find Nya.

"So, what should I do?"

"I say you go, because I sense Kai is there. He'll need help, because this is Kai we're talking about. And Klara, Cole, Tyler, Kylie, and I will be waiting to help out. You should try to get Kai out of there, because he's the only one who can convince Skylor to help us. I'll make sure the rest of us are there before you get there. I'll have Kylie start a fight, and the rest of us will help as well, and we'll be able to get out of there." Neuro was surprised to hear Zane insult his teammate, but it wasn't like he knew the nindroid all that well. Maybe it was something he did often.

"Alright, I should go now, so you'll tell the others?"

"Yes, I will."

The two of them left Neuro's suite and went in different directions.

Neuro finally made it to where Kai, Chen, his father, and a lot of other cultists were. When they saw him, they all stopped, and stared at him. None of them expected Neuro to actually listen to the note left in his suite.

"Well, am I here to get a tattoo, or for another matter?" He scanned the room, locating Tyler and Klara, but not Cole or either of the nindroids.

"For a tattoo, obviously," said Clouse. "Kai, you wait outside of the room."

"What in Ninjago's name are you doing here?" asked Kai.

"Getting you out of here," muttered Neuro, too quietly for anyone else to hear him. Kai nodded, still confused, and walked out the door.

"Hey Kai. I take it Neuro got you out of there." Kai looked for the source of the familiar voice, and saw Cole casually leaning against the wall.

"Cole, what's going on? Why's Neuro getting a tattoo, and why are Klara and Tyler hiding in there?" Kai asked. Then he realized just how unlikely it was that Cole could actually answer his questions.

"I'll tell you as we run. Come on, Clouse's snake will wake up soon, and she'll eat Nya and Sensei Garmadon." Kai nodded and the two ninja ran off.

Meanwhile, Neuro still couldn't figure out where Kylie or Zane were. They should've been there by now, and if they didn't hurry, Neuro, Klara, and Tyler wouldn't be able to hold the cultists off for very long.

Tyler got tired of waiting, so he looked at Klara, and nodded. Tyler used gravity to send the desk flying at three guards, as a spell from Klara set part of the room on fire. Neuro knew that Zane and Kylie would be late, so he began fighting as well. Finally, about twenty minutes later, the two nindroids entered the room.

"Where were you guys?" asked Tyler, knocking a guard to the ground as he turned to face the two of them.

"Kylie got us lost." Zane said, running right into the middle of the fight. Neuro looked at Kylie and raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Eventually, Tyler created a smoke screen, and the five of them escaped.

"And so Kylie's brother is Zane, and he's only seven! I mean I'm about twice as old as him! Isn't that weird. Because Jay once said something about a theory he had. I didn't understand some of it… well I didn't understand any of it besides Jay's guess that Zane didn't age, and I guess he was right. But I thought if anything Zane would be way older than us, not younger," said Cole, as he and Kai ran through the tunnels to find Nya and Garmadon.

"Wait, slow down," Kai demanded. "You're seriously telling me that Zane has a sister, and that that sister is Kylie? Our biggest rival in the tournament?"

"Yes, but the point is, Zane's not even ten and he's way smarter than all of us combined. I mean-"

"No, the point is that Zane has a sister that he's never told us about. What do you think Jay's going to say about that? Kylie eliminated him. I don't think he'll be happy to find out that we were looking for the same person!" Kai cut Cole off. "Wait, I think this is the room we're looking for!"

The ninja of earth opened the door to see a large snake slithering around Nya. The snake opened its massive jaw and… bit down on a large rock.

"Cole?" asked Nya, seeing the large amount of earth in the serpent's mouth.

"Hey Nya, how's it going?" asked Cole, undoing her chains as Kai helped Garmadon.

"Well done you two," said the ninjas' sensei as he stretched his arms.

"So what happened after the guards stopped looking for you?" asked Kai. Cole had also told the red ninja part of his story.

"Well, Kylie and I started the final round, and I was crushing her, almost literally," started Cole.

"Because I let you," said Kylie, as she and the others met up with them.

"Uh… is that Zane?" asked Kai.

"Yes, I'm Zane. It's nice to see you again," said the titanium ninja.

"You never told me Zane was silver!" Kai told Cole.

"I guess I never realized that until now. There must have been too many other things going on."

"I fail to see how you didn't realize that I was completely titanium Cole, could you please explain how that is possible," Zane added.

All of them argued over what happened after the final fight as they tried to leave out embarrassing parts of the story, and to humiliate the others. As they told the story to Kai, Nya, and Garmadon, it became obvious that those last few days were full of memories they'd never forget. Through fighting each other, bonds were only made stronger, and it only now became apparent that they'd actually have a fighting chance in stopping Chen and the other cultists.

"Well, now what do we do?" asked Nya.

"Yeah, what's next?" Tyler added.

"The answer's actually pretty simple," said Zane, crossing his arms. Neuro had filled him in on everything that happened since the start of the tournament, including what happened to the losers. Therefore, he had already began processing different ideas. When everyone was looking at Zane, the nindroid continued, "We get everyone else out of the factory."

* * *

 **(A/N) Guess who's finally back! Me! I am so sorry about the wait. School slowed me down, and I had to update another story, and now I feel like I'm making excuses, and this is getting to be a pointless author's note, and I'm sorry. Anyway, I'd like to thank SW23 (StoryWriter2003) for giving me ideas for this chapter. Please review, and expect irregular updates due to school and basketball.**

 **Until next time,**

 **-Frostbite.**


	17. The Plan

Chapter 17

When Kylie finally accepted the fact that she'd have to work with the ninja, she realized how many alliances she had, not counting the ones in the factory. It had started with only her and Neuro, but now they were joined by Klara, Tyler, Zane, Cole, Kai, Nya, Garmadon, and possibly Skylor.

"So, Kai, what happened with Skylor?"

"I got her on our side! There's no way Chen's going to stop us now!"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," said a new, feminine voice. All of them turned to see Skylor. She was running quickly, and looked nervous.

"Oh, hey Skylor," said Kai. "What's the matter with you?"

"I was speaking with my father earlier, and he said that since I have all the elements, today I'm going to have to give him my power. When he does that, anyone with a tattoo will turn into an Anacondrai!"

"So, what are you planning to do then?" asked Kylie.

"I can't just betray him like that. If Chen finds out, well, he probably won't be too worried, just have people searching for me. But if Clouse convinces him just how bad it is, that his plan might fail, he'll do everything he can to keep any of us surviving, and he'll most likely immediately kill all of the people in the factory."

"So, Skylor needs to be with Chen tonight," said Neuro. "So we have to find everyone else by then. If we do, we can have everyone else nearby, to get Skylor out of there, and find a way to get off of the island.

"Okay then," Cole told everyone. "Let's make a plan."

It was difficult work, but everyone finally agreed to the final plan. Skylor had to be at the ceremony by midnight, and everyone else would have to be near around there by then. And it was about eight forty five

Nya and Garmadon would search the island, and try to find a way for all of them to make an escape.

Since there were guards searching for both Zane and Neuro, the two of them would go to tunnels near the factory, and get the guards attention, and run away.

That would allow Kylie and Klara to get into the factory and explain everything to the others in the factory.

Kai and Cole would disguise themselves as Clouse's guards, and would act like the others had escaped, and that the two ninja were taking them to speak with Chen.

Zane and Neuro would eventually find each other, because the falcon would be in the same general location as Neuro. The two of them would then find Nya and Garmadon. Both of those thing should happen between ten and eleven thirty.

The fighters would be waiting around the room where the ceremony would take place, and Tyler would be there using form to disguise himself among other cultists.

Around the time Skylor gave up her power, Tyler would use speed to grab the staff, and break it.

The masters of amber would use sound as a signal to the others to burst in, and help fight. Before then, Nya and Garmadon will tell everyone else how they would get out.

Tyler and Skylor would follow the others and they'd all escape.

"See, simple," said Zane after explaining it to Kai for the fourth time.

"I still don't get it."

"I don't either," added Cole.

"You two have the simplest part. Find two red cloaks, like Clouse's guards wear, and wait outside the factory. Then walk right behind the other fighters," Neuro explained, trying to keep calm and carry on with the plan.

Finally, everyone understood, and split up.

"Do you see anything yet, Sensei," asked Nya about thirty minutes later.

"Not now, but we could take the boat that brought us here. We should still keep looking. What about the vehicle that you came in, that you we're talking about earlier? Can it fly or move over water quickly?"

"I can reprogram it too," said the samurai. "That should take about fifty minutes, and it's sitting right over… wait a minute. Dareth! Where is it? He must have been spotted, and instead of just cloaking it, he must have driven off. The pile of metal we found earlier must have been it. I guess they must have caught him and then destroyed it. I can make something out of it if it isn't too bad, but it would take about two hours."

"What do you mean by 'if it isn't too bad'" asked Garmadon. The metal was in only pieces, and Nya said it wouldn't work when she saw it.

"Wait! I saw a blimp while I was running off with the spell!" she said after a few minutes.

"The blimp we used at the start of the final eight," muttered Garmadon.

"I have an idea. You go meet up with Zane and… whatever his name is."

"Neuro."

"Yeah, I'm not good with names. Anyway, you find them, and I'll figure out how to fly this thing!" she said, happy that the plan was finally coming together.

"Sounds good," said her Sensei, as he looked at the sky.

"I believe it is time for me to go find the others. Good luck Nya,"

"Yes Sensei."

As Garmadon left, Nya sat down and messed with the different controls. She didn't trust putting it on autopilot, the first button she found, because she had a feeling that Chen could control that function. She messed with the controls in the blimp, and eventually figured it out. She figured Garmadon wouldn't be back for a while, so she made a few changes. After a few hours, she had made the blimp more like a plane, and removed the top part of it allowing it to go faster. She just hoped no one was afraid of heights, because they'd be flying really fast.

Zane and Neuro couldn't have done better at distracting the guards. They had gone just out of sight, and started arguing about the best way to escape the labyrinth. When the cultists near the factory heard them, they called for all of the others within earshot, and found the two of them that were standing nearby. When the two of them were spotted, they split up, racing through the tunnels.

Both of them new the same thing; do not try to fool the guards. If they did, they'd give up and go back to guarding the factory. They ran only as fast as the guards, and always turned the same direction at a fork in the labyrinth.

Finally, when they were gone, Kylie, Kai, and Klara snuck in and looked for the other fighters, only to see that the factory was empty.

If only they had known that Jay had actually succeeded in convincing the other fighters to not give up on escape. They had planned to stick together, but eventually they all split up. I only they had known that nearly all of them were completely lost.

"They're gone," announced a shocked Klara.

"I am not Jacob, I can see that," Kylie muttered.

"So, now what?"

"I don't know, let's go find Kai and Cole." When the two of them found the ninja, they were just as confused.

"Well, let's stay together, find as many fighters as we can, and get to the ceremony, then maybe the falcon can search for the others," said Cole, and not even Kylie could pick out a flaw in his idea.

Neuro had, accidentally, gotten away from the guards. He hoped that they didn't go back to the factory just yet. He continued down the tunnels, slowing to a walk.

As he walked, he felt as if someone was watching him. He turned around, but didn't see anyone.

Then," Hey, Nerdo!" said a voice, quite loudly. Neuro continued to face forward, sighing when he recognized the speaker. Briefly, he was confused, but brushed it off quickly.

"Hello, Turner."

"How'd you know it was me? I thought you also lost you element."

"I did, but I'd recognize your voice anywhere."

"Is that a… god thing or a bad thing?" Neuro just smirked. He did that a lot.

"How did you get out of the factory?" questioned the master of the mind.

"Jay broke us out. It was pretty cool. He changed the dumpling machine into some sort of cannon, and blasted the wall. All of us tried to stay together, but I got separated from them."

"Of course," said Neuro. "You would be the one to get lost first."

"I'm not lost. I know right where I going."

"And where is that?" Turner sighed. That was the one thing he couldn't stand about Neuro; he always asked the most obvious things, yet it never failed to drive him crazy.

"Uh… I hadn't worked that part out quite yet."

"Yet you knew where you were going?"

"I… am going… just shut up!" That master of speed shouted. He wanted to add something, but had no idea what.

"So, where were you trying to go?"

"I don't know. We put Jay in charge. He said we'd just look for a way out, then figure something out. I however, had a much better plan."

"Which was to…"

"Make a plan, of course."

"So, what's your brilliant 'plan' now?"

"I don't have one," Turner quietly admitted, gazing at his feet. Then he looked up. "Do you have a plan?"

"Yes, why?" asked Neuro.

"What do I have to do?"

"Do you really think that I was planning on running into you?"

"I thought you could tell the future."

"One, I cannot tell the future. I mostly read minds, or push things. Two, I don't have my element right now. But I think that the plan is easy enough to adapt, but we should probably look for the ninja's teammate."

"Wait. Do you mean Jay?" Neuro shook his head.

"Kai?"

"Nope."

"Uh… what's the strong one's name?"

"It's not Cole."

"Greenie? Kai's little sister? Old guy with the weird hair?" Each guess was met with a blank look and Turner gave up.

"Do you mean the dead robot? Because I don't really feel entirely comfortable looking for a ghost."

"He'll probably find us first, so you won't have to look for him, and he's not a ghost. Just, come on."

The two of them waked through the tunnels, and although neither of them would admit it, they were glad that they finally weren't alone.

Zane was successfully able to stay near the guards for almost an hour, but they eventually took a wrong turn, and he was alone. Well, almost alone. He heard footsteps walking through a tunnel near him, and he sighed. Zane stood up, and prepared for a fight. When the footsteps got quieter, he decided to follow. About twenty yards behind the person, Zane was in next to no danger. Of course, he couldn't see the person, only clothes, with a hat and sunglasses. But they weren't piled on the floor; they were floating in the air. They looked like an invisible person was wearing them.

Then the 'invisible person' turned around. "Who are you?" it asked.

"I'm Zane. Who ae you?"

"Invizable, master of light. Are you a ninja?"

Zane nodded. "Where's everyone else?"

"We were breaking out of the factory. Karloff, the master of metal, built a roto jet, but it broke down after Jay wanted to tinker with it. So we all tried to stay together in the labyrinth, but most of us got lost. I only know where Jacob is. Unless he's been walking around since we started talking. He's blind, so he'd get lost easily."

"Is that Jacob?" asked Zane, pointing behind Invizable, who turned and nodded.

"Jacob, over her!" Jacob was better coordinated than Zane expected, as he was able to get over to them with no difficulty.

"So, there's another person here named Zane. He's that famous nindroid that fought the overlord a while ago."

"Hi Zane, I'm Jacob Pevsner, master of sound." He held his hand out and Zane shook it. Then he turned to Invizable. "While you two were talking, I figured out where Karloff is; come on."

They followed Jacob through the maze, until they found Karloff, who was trying to fix his roto jet. "Hey Karloff; I'm glad Jacob found you," began Invizable.

"Jay make roto jet stop. Karloff can't fix it," said the master of metal. Then he asked, "Who is metal man?"

"This is Zane," said Invizable. "When you say you can't fix it… do you need help?"

"Karloff only need help if help knows how to fix Jay's tinkering," said Karloff.

Zane raised a metal eyebrow. He had watched Jay when he tried to improve Nya's mech because he 'had an idea for an improvement.' After he accidentally broke it, Zane had spent five hours figuring out how to fix Jay's mistakes. Sure, they had less time now, but Pixal could probably tell him what to do, if he couldn't figure it out.

"I could help you," he offered. After a lot of changes and repairs, the jet was fixed.

"Thank you Zane," said Karloff, when he tested it to see if it worked. "Roto jet is better than before!" The other three grabbed onto different parts of the jet, as it flew through the tunnels, flying six inches above the ground. Invizable was screaming out of terror, while Jacob screamed out of excitement. Zane just sat on the top of the jet with his eyes shut.

"Zane, the jet is approaching Neuro and another person, who the falcon has identified as Griffin Turner, the master of speed," said Pixal.

"Alright. Can you send a message to the falcon?" he asked. Pixal said she could.

"So, how do you even know where we're going?" asked Turner for the third time.

"If you ask me that one more time, I will knock you out, and run off," said Neuro. He didn't say it with a threatening tone, but Turner didn't doubt him. Suddenly, a falcon flying through the maze cawed and when they looked up, they could hear Zane's voice.

"We've found your location, and there's a roto jet heading toward you."

"Oh snap! They fixed the roto jet!"

"What's a roto jet?" asked Neuro.

"You seriously don't know? I know something that you don't!" Just as Turner said that, they could hear the jet approaching.

"So, I guess we just time this right and jump onto the jet, because if that kind of thing is stopped, I'm pretty sure it will take a while to start back up," Neuro said.

"I thought you didn't know what roto jets were," said Turner.

"I don't but judging by the…"

"Okay skip the science stuff. So you just guessed?"

"Something like that." As the jet approached them, it slowed down a bit, but still kept moving fairly quickly. Neuro's mind quickly assessed the speed and distance, as he judged the timing of the jump. His eyes scanned the jet, as he figured out where to aim his landing.

The jet was nearly at them, and Neuro ran towards it, before jumping forward, and landing on the jet. He let out a breath of air he had been holding in as he looked behind him, to where Turner had gotten the timing wrong. He sighed.

Zane seemed to notice, so he instructed Karloff to go through a circular tunnel, to get back to Turner.

Neuro knew he'd have to help, so he looked around the jet. At the back was a metal bar going across the end of the jet. Neuro wrapped both of his legs around it, sitting on the bar sideways. As they approached Turner, he leaned backwards, laying parallel to the ground. Neuro reached an arm behind himself, and Turner grabbed it as the roto jet went by, and swung himself on.

Things seemed to settle in to a sort of pattern. Karloff would pilot the jet while Zane helped him navigate. Everyone else helped people get on the roto jet, once they were found. Eventually, all of the elemental masters, and Klara and Garmadon were there. When Zane and Karloff had fixed it, they had made it much larger than it previously was, allowing all of them to fit.

By then, Neuro had taken control of the navigation, and was guiding Karloff to the room where Chen would take Skylor's powers. They wouldn't get there until after the ceremony started, so Neuro hoped that either Chen would spend lots of time boasting, or Tyler was already there. Unknown to him, both would turn out in his favor.

Skylor looked around at the cultists waiting. She stood at the center of the platform with Chen and Clouse. As her eyes swept over those watching, she found the one who was most likely Tyler, judging by the way he smirked and nodded when she made eye contact.

"Well, let us begin," said Chen, after many minutes of speaking to the other cultists gathered. "Come, Skylor."

The master of amber walked in front of her father and kneeled, taking deep breaths as she felt an extremely painful sensation running through her. When it finally ended, she felt weak and powerless.

"Are you all ready to join me in a new beginning where we take over all of Ninjago?" Chen asked to the cultists, who cheered. Clouse began chanting the needed spell, and Skylor looked up.

"Hey Chen," she said. "You forgot an element." When she had Chen and Clouse's attention, she added, "The element of surprise!"

Tyler, who now looked like his normal self, used speed as he ran to grab the staff, but Chen dissolved into smoke.

"How'd you know?" asked Tyler, turning around.

"I just got the power of the mind you know. I saw that coming!" Skylor groaned.

Just behind the wall, half of the elemental masters were waiting. The others were spread outside the room.

"Pixal, activate two explosive shuriken," Zane said, only for her to understand. When he felt the cool metal reach his hands, he nodded to Cole.

"Let's do this guys." And with that, the explosives broke through the wall, and the elemental masters ran into the room, ready to destroy the staff.


	18. The Battle

Chapter 18

Chen may have had the power of the mind, and he may have seen Tyler coming, but he was not expecting the attack of the elemental masters.

"Guards! Get them!" he yelled, as he himself began trying to get away.

"Don't forget!" Cole yelled to the others. "Destroy the staff and your powers will return!"

Not all of them were fighters, and it was obvious who the fighters were, and who was unsure of how to fight. But they tore through the guards.

"Get ready for an opening!" Kylie yelled to the fighters around her. "When you see one, get the staff!" She could tell that several of them understood, and ran straight into a large group of cultists. After taking a deep breath, she spun around, throwing kicks and punches, knocking all the guards quickly, and soon her attacks picked up speed. Before she knew it, an icy blue tornado surrounded her.

"You've got to be kidding me," said Lloyd when he saw the spinjitzu tornado around Kylie. "She's a spinjitzu master too?" Kylie wasn't particularly good at spinjitzu. She could do it, but it was weak, and took a lot of both preparation and recovery.

It seemed to captivate the cultists, and soon, some of the fighters found openings. Pushing passed guards, several attacks were fired at Chen. Of course, he had the staff, and no hits connected. Chen fought back better than expected, and elemental masters were falling.

Cole watched from a distance. His eyes traveled over the fight, particularly near Chen. He had learned new fighting strategies from watching Kylie. "Wait for the right time, Cole. Just wait," he muttered to himself. When Invizable had successfully landed an attack against Chen, Cole found the moment to strike.

"Ninjago!" he yelled, as a brown spinjitzu tornado formed, and with Chen's back turned, hit its mark. Cole caught the staff easily, and much to Chen's disappointment, smashed it on the ground.

A white flash temporarily blinded every human in the room, as different colored auras flew into different elemental masters. "Now bad guys in big trouble!" Karloff yelled, before creating metallic armor around him, and smashing into the nearest guards.

Karloff knocked the guards nearest to him back into a wall. A spear was thrown at him, but he didn't even flinch when it hit his chest. All he really had to do was walk around and smash cultists.

As the master of metal literally smashed his way around, Toxikita had chosen to stay to the sides of the battle. Occasionally she'd encounter a guard of two, but that was the most of it. She was throwing poison clouds into the fray wherever a large mass of cultists were. She never really was a fighter, but this way she was still able to help.

Jacob had an extreme disadvantage. Being blind, he wasn't able to tell if the people nearest to him were allies or enemies, but he soon found a rhythm, attacking those who attacked him. He was fairly certain that he'd given minor injuries to his friends, but that was to be expected. He was almost always playing his sitar, and he fought off most cultists so well, it was hard to tell he was blind.

Invizable and Shade worked together, as Invizable stayed invisible, Shade was jumping in and out of different shadows. With a lot of different torches in the room, it was as if there was a whole other realm belonging only to Shade. No one was able to find either of them until an attack was already on the way.

Skylor was still slightly weak after losing all her power, but was getting stronger with her amber back. She sent guards crashing into the ceiling, set cultists on fire, and was using metal to make her stronger. Unfortunately, she didn't see Clouse behind her. It felt like a nonexistent dagger pierced through her back, and although no wound formed, she could feel a terrible pain.

Klara noticed this, and ran to help Skylor, but Clouse grabbed the back of her hair and pulled it, causing her to fall back. But she popped back up, and rammed her knee into his chin while her foot connected with his stomach. But he uttered a quick spell, creating a barrier around him and preventing Klara from follow up attacks.

The sorceress knew that the barrier wouldn't stay up for long, and she dug a hand into one of her pockets, searching for her knife. But she checked the wrong one, and only pulled up a handful of black pepper.

Klara didn't have much time to ponder how it got there, because Clouse was attacking again. Thinking quickly, she threw it at her father. It struck his eyes and stepped back.

A battle cry from behind Klara got her attention. She turned and reached for her bow instead of her knife. Guards dropped to the ground quickly. No arrows missed their target, and when she heard a shout from Ash, she casually sent an arrow in his direction, hitting the cultist nearest to him. She smiled as the arrows flew from her fingertips.

Then she ran out of arrows. Without any time to use a spell to create more, she used her bow itself to fight. Holding it on both ends, she was able to continue.

But what she didn't notice was that Clouse had reached Skylor. After recovering, the two of them battled a bit, but it was clear that he was much more experienced. He had successfully tied her with a nearby rope, and Chen, Clouse, and a few other guards surrounded her. Chen nodded to Clouse and the sorcerer placed a hand over her mouth as they led her away.

Desperately, Skylor looked around, trying to find someone, anyone to help her. Her eyes locked with someone; Zane.

Zane saw her clearly. As his fist traveled behind him, his gaze never moved. Skylor's eyes were pleading him to help. But Zane wasn't ready to forgive her yet. As she went around the corner, she took one last look at him.

Zane's eyes narrowed, and he turned the other way.

* * *

 **(A/N) Okay, that was probably a boring chapter, but I needed something to add there. Anyway, please review, and I'll update soon.**

 **Until next time,**

 **-Frostbite**


	19. The Buggy

Chapter 19

Zane sighed to himself as the elemental masters destroyed the ferry and any other way to leave the island. The others were sure it was a good idea; that it would be easier to find Chen that way.

But Zane wasn't sure that was a good idea. If this was Chen's island, certainly he'd know other ways to leave. People were getting to cocky, and Zane had learned to be more careful when it came to that. So he sat alone with his thoughts with his back against the palace wall.

He was thinking about the fight he had, and how he refused to save Skylor. He was supposed to protect those who cannot protect themselves, just as Kylie defended the innocent, but he didn't. He let Skylor be taken by Chen and Clouse.

Part of Zane felt like he made the right decision. After all, when he had been captured, Skylor would go down to the cells and taunt him, telling him that he saved his friends from the Overlord, but not himself from simple chains. What she had done to him was horrible, and he tried to forget it. But it was the same as the traumatic memories left by the Overlord; the more Zane tried to forget, the better he remembered it.

But he was a good person, and he felt guilty about it as well. If he was supposed to protect those who cannot protect themselves, he had failed. He couldn't just let her be taken by Chen. However, in everyone's life, there are moments they wish they could take back, but the past is the past.

"…But there's always the future," Zane muttered to himself. He stood up, and walked over to the other ninja and Garmadon. Their sensei told them that he was proud of how well they stayed together.

Neuro was sitting at the edge of the island, with his feel dangling over the end of the dock. He was trying to read a guard's mind, but it was hard to do from a far distance, and the connections were hard to get. Whenever he did, the cultist knew nothing about the plan.

Then, he heard static. He instantly knew that Skylor was trying to contact him. She was the only one with the power. Neuro also recognized the static from the stories his mom and her older brother had told him. They both had the power, and explained that two elemental masters with the power of the mind could speak to each other, but there would always be static in the background. He supposed it could have been Tyler, but doubted that, seeing as he was currently talking to Toxikita.

 _Skylor,_ he thought.

 _Neuro? Is that you?_

 _Yeah. Where are you? Are you okay?_

 _I'm fine for the moment, but I think the guards are after me._

 _Did you escape?_

 _Yes. Here- here they come!_

 _Why do they want you?_

 _Chen knows how to still use my power to turn his army into Anacondrai. He's going to take me to some cave._

 _But, there are hundreds of caves here. Which one?_

 _I'm trying to remember, but..._

 _But what?_

 _Stop distracting me. I'm trying to focus Neuro…_

 _Skylor?_

 _They… got… me. Help! This is… all your fau-_

 _Skylor!_

Neuro opened his eyes and tried to focus again, but all he heard was static. He stood up and ran over to Tyler and Toxikita. "Have either of you seen the ninja?" he asked, more calmly than he felt.

"No, why?" Tyler asked. Neuro ignored the question, and looked to Toxikita.

"I think they're at the camp we set up in the forest," she said in a softer voice than Neuro had expected.

"Thanks," he said before running into the forest. After a few minutes, he found the ninja.

"Oh hey, Neuro," said Jay. "Something on your _mind?"_ Jay laughed at his own attempt at a joke, disappointed no one else found it funny.

"Actually I do. I got a message from Skylor." Everyone turned their attention to his as he continued. "She's been caught by the cultists, and they're taking her to a cave to take her powers. She didn't say which cave, but I'm guessing it's the crystal caves because they used those crystals to make the staff."

The ninja all agreed that they'd have to be find Skylor soon.

Kai drove off in a cultist's vehicle before anyone could say anything else. Garmadon took charge, instructing the ninja how to search the island. Neuro went back to the palace to keep an eye on the area.

Kylie, who had been looking through Nya's DB Express, jumped out as Nya left.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked Garmadon. "I'm going to help too."

"It would be better for you to go back with the elemental masters. _We'll_ find Skylor," said Garmadon, confidently.

Kylie shook her head. "I'm going to help," she said, glaring.

Garmadon thought for a moment and said, "Fine, go with Zane."

There was one seat in the buggy, which Kylie took immediately, leaving Zane on top of it, and holding on.

"Do you disrespect my friends purposely?" asked Zane.

Kylie turned to face him. "Actually, no, I don't."

"Then why do you?" asked Zane as she turned back towards the wheel.

"I don't know. I just don't like them. They're all just so… stupid."

Zane sighed and looked up. He could no longer see Lloyd's dragon, and everyone one else had left.

"Why do you call them stupid if all you've done for the last minute is find the brakes, the communication device, and the horn?" Fortunately, the communication device didn't connect with anyone else, but they were still stuck there.

"Well, I probably would've figured it out, but you keep interrupting me!" Kylie yelled. She took a deep breath before looking at the buggy again. Chen's buggies were so different than anything she had ever seen. There were extra buttons and pedals, most of them seemed to be useless.

A few minutes later, she figured it out. The buggy was driving through the forest at a dangerous speed. Kylie may have known how to drive it, but not how to drive it _well._ She was crashing into nearly every tree, despite the fact that the pathway was quite large, and she could have driven through it fine.

"KJ, I'm not certain, but wouldn't it be more logical to avoid the trees?" asked Zane.

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" she asked, swerving to the right to avoid the tree, but hitting another two in the process.

"Hit all the trees?" guessed Zane, readjusting his grip as Kylie made another dangerous turn.

"Shut up!" she yelled. "Unless you have something important to say, stay quiet!"

For a few minutes, everything went steady. They caught up to the others, and had taken a different route to look for Skylor.

"Hey, is that Skylor?" Zane asked after a few more minutes.

"What? Where?" yelled Kylie, slamming on what she thought was the brakes, then fixing her mistake.

"About three minutes back," said Zane.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Kylie messed with the controls, and turned the buggy around.

"I wasn't sure if it was important or not," he admitted.

"Well, let me think. We're looking for Skylor, and you saw her. Of course it's important!" Kylie drove back the way they came, before Zane spoke up.

"Oh, never mind. I guess that's not her." Zane really had thought he saw Skylor, but it was just a flash in the tree. Kylie nearly swore, and turned back to the route.

Kylie wasn't always perfectly focused under pressure, because she swerved sharply to the left. A bit too far.

The buggy collided with the vehicle Kai had taken. They both crashed, sending the three of them flying in different directions.

"What is your problem?" yelled Kai, as he pulled himself out from under a wheel.

"My problem? You crashed into me!" Kylie defended herself. The two of them argued for several minutes.

"You clearly crashed into me!"

"You were in my way!"

"You do realize I could clobber you right now, right?" asked Kai. Kylie hesitated. She could fight well, but she wasn't sure how well she'd do against Kai.

But she didn't let it show. "I'd definitely beat you. If you lay a hand on me, Zane and I will take you down."

Kai laughed. "I know he's fast, but there's no way he could get here by the time I'm through with you."

"He's right here," said Kylie, looking to her left. "Zane?" Both of them heard a loud sigh.

"Are you two going to keep arguing?" came Zane's voice. "Or can we move on?"

Zane had fallen into a crevice made of crystals. There was one big problem.

The sides were perfectly cut, and there was no way out.

* * *

 **(A/N) Well, I finally updated it! Sorry about the wait. I don't have anything else to say.**

 **Until next time,**

 **-Frostbite64**


	20. The Knife

Chapter 20

"Oh," said Kylie. "Sorry Zane."

Kai scoffed. "You? Sorry? The world must be going crazy!"

"Shut up," she said. "Zane's trying to tell you that it was your fault that you crashed into me."

"Actually, KJ, I believe that it's your fault."

"Ha!" said Kai. He laughed, and took a step towards Kylie. Challenging him, Kylie took a step of her own.

"You were the one that crashed into him," finished Zane.

"Uh, Zane, you're my brother. Aren't you supposed to be on my side?" asked Kylie.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but he's right," said Kai. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go find-"

Kai was interrupted by a distressed cry.

"-Skylor." His voice was a quiet whisper.

Kylie grinned. She had an idea.

Kylie tried not to laugh as she spoke to Kai. "Hey, firecracker. I know where your girlfriend is."

Kai blushed, and angrily said, "Skylor and I aren't in love. We aren't dating, so whatever your little scheme is, it isn't going to work."

"So you knew I was talking about Skylor. Don't bother trying to hide it. Not even Zane's that oblivious."

Zane, who heard the entire conversation, was confused. "Oblivious about what?" he asked, trying to figure it all out.

"You know, the whole Kai and Skylor thing," she said.

"What thing?"

Kylie slapped a hand to her face, embarrassed and annoyed. She turned to face a smirking Kai.

"Yeah, he totally gets it."

"Okay, so maybe _Zane's_ that oblivious, but no one else is."

"Fine. Pick someone, and we get back, we'll ask them."

"You're on. Loser owes the other twenty bucks?" she asked.

"Forty. Deal?"

"Deal." They shook hands. Both considered throwing the other into the crevice with Zane, but Kai decided against it, and Kylie had a plan. She smiled. "I choose Neuro."

Kai winced, and muttered a quiet, 'crap.' "So where is she?"

"Calm down, lover boy. She's that way." Kylie pointed to the right.

Kai walked off, and nearly fell down the crevice. He grabbed the edge with both hands.

"That worked much better than I thought," admitted Kylie.

"I am not going down alone," said Kai. He grabbed her ankle, and they both fell.

"Oh Kai, the ticking time bomb of anger and rage, when will you ever learn?" asked Kylie, mockingly.

"Oh Kylie, the master of sarcasm and hatred, when will you ever shut up?" asked Kai.

"Wait, where's Zane?" she asked.

Indeed, Zane was gone. Kai turned in a slow circle, not seeing him anywhere.

Suddenly, he came out from behind a rock.

"Guys, I found Skylor," he said.

"Ha, I was right," said Kylie. That plan had definitely back-fired, but she wasn't about to let anyone know.

"For once," said Kai. "Where?"

"This crevice is a tunnel to the crystal caves of the island. It should lead us to Skylor if we follow it."

Zane motioned for them to follow him. He led them through a series of descending paths, until they reached an opening. Skylor stood, chained to a pillar of crystal, and surrounded by guards. As the trio arrived, they saw Chen take the last of her power.

"Skylor," whispered Kai. "No."

Forcing herself to stand, Skylor faced her father.

"You nearly killed me. Is this what you want? Me dead?"

"No, I just want power. Is that wrong? Wanting to be strong? Sometimes there are setbacks." Once again, Chen failed to see the truth due to his ambitions, and Skylor swore that would be the reason for his downfall.

Soon, Clouse began to chant. Kai couldn't believe that he was too far away to help. Skylor's skin turned purple, and fangs grew out of her mouth. Her legs fused together, forming a tail. Looking up, she saw Chen with the exact same changes.

"Now," said Chen. "We are the most powerful in the world. We shall take over Ninjago. Skylor, are you with us?"

Glaring, Skylor lifted her head high. "I will never help you. You are evil, but I am not."

"Fair enough, but we can have no witnesses," said Chen. He rose the Anacondrai blade he held. "This is what happens when anyone betrays me."

Kai prepared to help, but Zane was faster. Leaping out from behind the crystal they hid behinds, he sprinted towards the new Anacondrai.

"Master, behind you," warned Clouse. Chen turned around, and narrowly avoided Zane's flurry of attacks.

The two battled long enough for Skylor to break the chains, and free herself. Immediately, she joined the action, taking on several other guards.

For a moment, she met Zane's gaze. One look was enough to know that everything between the two of them had been forgiven.

Neither Kai nor Kylie was about to be left out of the fight.

Kylie held both palms out, facing Clouse. "Adagio," she said, sparks flying from her hands. Immediately, Clouse's movements slowed, giving her time to attack him. He created a shield around himself, though, keeping him from being hurt. Annoyed, Kylie found other targets.

Kai was attacking the guards. He had picked up a fallen sword, and fought. Kai sliced through them as if they were nothing more than soft butter.

"Okay," said Skylor. "Any ideas on how to get out?"

"Sure," said Kai. "There's a tunnel to exit over there." He pointed to the tunnel he, Kylie, and Zane had entered through.

"There's a closer one," said Zane. He showed the others another one. It was the path Skylor had entered.

"Alright, fall back," said Kylie.

"Uh, I'm the only official ninja here," said Kai. "I'll lead."

"So does this mean I'm not a ninja?" asked Zane, clearly confused.

"No. You are a nindroid," said Kai.

"But wouldn't that make me more reliable?"

"Guys, let's just fall back!" said Kylie.

"But I'm leader," said Kai. He waited several seconds to say, "Fall back."

Determined to prove that she wasn't going to listen, Kylie turned and ran in a full sprint to the exit. Skylor and Zane followed her.

"Some team," muttered Kai. He set a wave of fire on the ground before turning and running out of the crystal caves.

The four of them journeyed back to the castle. There had been two buggies laying nearby, so they rode them back.

"It looks like we've got another fight on our hands," said Skylor.

"Good. I've been wanting to get back into action," said Kai.

"You've only been away for ten minutes," Kylie pointed out.

"Ten minutes too long." Kai led them into a battle.

Quickly surveying the scene, Kylie saw that Garmadon, Klara, and Tyler had all been turned into Anacondrai. The Elemental Masters were clearly losing, and needed help, desperately. She immersed herself into the battle, seeing a fallen dagger, and using it to her advantage. Almost immediately, she found it useless, unable to scratch the tough hide of the Anacondrai.

"You just can't stay out of trouble," she told Neuro.

"Actually, they told us that they came here looking for you," he said, diving out of another attack.

"Really?"

"Well, they weren't speaking my language, so I wouldn't know."

"Right," said Kylie. She spun around, and delivered a kick to an Anacondrai.

Neuro had been fighting with a sword, and was cleverly chipping away at single scales. Parts of his opponent had obvious weak spots now, but Neuro had yet to deliver a blow. The Anacondrai hit him, and he dropped the sword. He tried to catch it again, but missed. Instead his fingers closed on a knife.

Neuro recognized it as a throwing knife.

Thoughts raced through his mind.

 _It was aimed right at Kylie._

 _Kylie was facing away from the thrower._

 _It could have killed her._

 _He had saved her life._

"Thanks for freeing my hand," he told the Anacondrai he'd been fighting. Then he faced the thrower.

"Shooting someone in the back? Really?" he asked. "You're dead now."

His eyes narrowed, and he hurled the knife at the Anacondrai.

Kylie may not have seen the knife thrown at her, but she did hear the scream.

"Since when have you had anger issues?" she asked.

"Since my enemies try to hurt my friends."

* * *

 **(A/N) Hi. This chapter was totally not forgotten about, and totally on time... right? Sorry about that. Oh, and to anyone reading Cursed, yeah, that'll take a while. Anyway, I have more inspiration now, so hopefully the next chapter won't take as long. And I jinxed it. Crud. So, tell me what you think, I appreciate constructive criticism, and review. Thanks.**

 **Until next time,**

 **Frostbite64**


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